Security Council members welcome dialogue meeting

The UN Security Council members on Monday welcomed the preparatory meeting for the inter-Congolese dialogue which is under way in Gaborone, Botswana, and encouraged the parties to make all efforts to ensure the success of the session. In a letter to the dialogue’s facilitator, Ketumile Masire, Council members also stressed the need to ensure adequate representation of Congolese women in the preparatory process and voiced their backing for Masire’s efforts to achieve that goal. “The members of the Council support your appeal and urge the Congolese parties, signatories of the Lusaka agreement, to increase representation of women at the meeting, as well as in the dialogue,” the Council’s letter signed by its current chairman, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Columbia said.

The members stressed the importance of the role and contribution of women in the inter-Congolese dialogue and of ensuring that gender issues are addressed during the dialogue, consistent with a Council resolution 1325 (2000) which urges member states to increase the representation of women at all levels of decision-making when negotiating and implementing peace agreements.