UK to push for implementation of Lusaka accord

The United Kingdom (UK) has renewed its commitment to work with parties involved in the DRC conflict to ensure full compliance with the Lusaka Agreement, British Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short said in Kigali on Thursday. “I have visited Kinshasa and the east of Congo on this visit. We would like to help drive the process forward and ensure compliance by all forces to the Lusaka agreement,” a statement from Kagame’s press office quoted Short as saying. “In my meeting with President Kabila (of DRC), he made a commitment to making an announcement on the Demobilisation, Disarmament, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) of the Interahamwe by 14 August,” Short said. “I am hopeful that this will help to move Lusaka forward,” she added. Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, for his part, said that he was hopeful that the efforts of the UK government will help to ensure the compliance of the DRC to the Lusaka agreement. “Rwanda would like the DRC to stop supporting the militias that pose a security threat to Rwanda, and to work with the other signatories of the Lusaka agreement,” he said. On relations between his country and the UK, Kagame said: “We are working well together and the implementation of the memorandum of understanding is going well.”