Council urges all forces to withdraw

Members of the UN Security Council on Friday called for the urgent pull back of all forces in the DRC to agreed positions. The president of the Council, Ambassador Wang Yingfan of China, said in a press statement that members were concerned to learn that the DRC government maintained positions beyond the disengagement line, that the rebel Front de liberation du Congo (FLC) had not yet completed its commitment to withdraw its forces to agreed positions, while the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) had failed to disengage from Kisangani and had disrupted the activities of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC). “Members of the Security Council called on all forces to withdraw to agreed upon positions as a matter of urgency,” the statement said.

It also expressed the Council’s hope that the issue could be addressed through the institutions established under the Lusaka ceasefire agreement “and that all the parties to the Lusaka agreement will honour the commitments they have made to each other and the international community”. Council members also voiced concern at “the threat to the peace process” posed by activities of groups such as the former Rwandan Army (ex-FAR), Interahamwe, and the Burundian rebel Front pour la defense de la democratie (FDD). All parties, including the government, were reminded that under UN Security Council resolutions they were to “cease immediately all support to such groups”.