Annan affirms UN’s commitment to peace in DRC

UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, on Wednesday reaffirmed the UN Security Council’s commitment to help bring peace and stability in the DRC. In a statement to the open meeting of the Council, Annan said the presence of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame at the session “should strengthen our resolve to make the most of this opportunity for change, and ensure that it gives new impetus towards a final resolution of the conflict in the DRC”.

He said what was clear to the Council and also to all sides in the conflict was that “no country in the area can hope to enjoy stability while the conflict in the DRC continues, and that all will benefit from its resolution”. Annan commended the meeting between DRC President Joseph Kabila and Kagame last week.

He said there were difficult issues of governance, national dialogue, democracy, accountability and reconciliation that needed to be addressed in the DRC and in the region as a whole if there was to be a lasting solution in the Great Lakes. “But in the short term the most pressing issue is the continued existence of predatory armed groups,” he noted. “Although there is no easy military solution to this dangerous phenomenon, those guilty of the worst atrocities and human rights abuses - and especially those guilty of genocide - must not be allowed to escape unpunished,” Annan added.

“We must understand that all the countries in the region in particular Rwanda, have legitimate security concerns.” Annan also commended the Rwandan government for completing its “daunting programme” of reintegration and is moving ahead systematically towards greater inclusion, as well as national reconciliation and democratisation.