UN hails disengagement

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday said he was “very encouraged” by recent military developments in the DRC, but said progress must also be made on the political front, a UN press release said. Speaking at a press conference following bilateral meetings on Friday in Geneva with DRC President Joseph Kabila and French President Jacques Chirac, Annan said the disengagement of troops in the DRC represented a hopeful sign that the parties were determined to implement the Lusaka accord. “The signs are positive, but it has to be sustained,” he said. Also on Friday, the UN Security Council urged all parties in the DRC conflict to comply with the timetable for the disengagement and redeployment of troops. The Council also welcomed the deployment of a first contingent of observer troops within the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC). MONUC confirmed that the troop disengagement from former frontlines was continuing, “with unconfirmed reports of a pullout by government forces along the Oubangui river”, according to a UN report. Burundi, which is not a signatory to the Lusaka accord or the Harare disengagement plan, has announced the withdrawal of three battalions in the east, the report added.