Security Council calls for accelerated withdrawal

The UN Security Council on Friday called on all foreign forces to withdraw from the DRC in compliance with its Resolution 1304 of last year and the Lusaka ceasefire agreement of 1999, urged those forces to accelerate their withdrawal and “called on all parties to refrain from any offensive action during the pull-out process”. It expressed concern at recent reports of military operations in the North and South Kivu provinces of eastern DRC, and condemned recent incursions by “armed groups” (including the Rwandan Interahamwe militia and the Burundi rebel FDD) into Rwanda and Burundi. The Council stressed the need for the co-location with MONUC in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, of the Joint Military Commission (JMC) established among the signatories of the Lusaka agreement to implement its military aspects. The Security Council resolution on the DRC demanded that the rebel Front de liberation du Congo (FLC) “disengage and withdraw its forces, in accordance with the Harare sub-plans [of the Lusaka signatories] and the commitment it made to the Council mission [to the Great Lakes region] in their meeting of 25 May 2001”. Stressing the importance of the restoration of river traffic, the Council welcomed the opening of the Congo and Ubangui rivers, and called on all parties, but in particular the RCD, “to further cooperate in order to permit the re-establishment of the economic links between Kinshasa, Mbandaka and Kisangani”. Resolution 1355 also called for an increased public information capacity at MONUC to promote understanding of the peace process and the role of MONUC among local communities and the parties to the conflict. [for further details, go to: http://www0.un.org/apps/press/latest.asp