Relief to rebel-held areas

Turning to the DRC, Martin Griffiths said that there are just under 200,000 refugees in the country “and possibly as many as 500,000 displaced persons.” About 190,000 of the displaced are in North and South Kivu.

Griffiths, recently in the DRC, said that as a result of discussions with officials in Goma and Kinshasa, “we believe that we are in a position to move assistance into rebel areas”. But he admitted that “security will be a difficulty”. He added that international NGOs that have remained in the Kivus reminded the mission that the UN agencies “need to be very opportunistic” when it comes to where they can go. He also announced that UNICEF will take the lead in the Kivu operations and plans for a UNHCR antenna in Goma. Kabila reportedly ready to sign “immediate ceasefire”

DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila has expressed willingness to hold talks with all Congolese, including rebels of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) “inside or outside the country”, AFP reported. In a joint statement with his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby yesterday, during a visit to N’djamena, Kabila said he was ready to “sign an immediate ceasefire and continue the process of democratisation ahead of general elections which would be both democratic and open”. According to the statement, both heads of state urged the international community to support this peace initiative by sending a peacekeeping force under the auspices of the OAU and UN. Deby, who has sent some 800 troops to fight alongside DRC government troops, justified the intervention by saying Chad was helping DRC to find peace. “We will only leave the DRC when our mission has been achieved,” he told a news conference at the end of Kabila’s visit.