Regional ministers seek faster UN deployment

The ministerial-level Political Committee established under the Lusaka ceasefire agreement has called on the UN to address the situation in the DRC with “the urgency and seriousness it deserves”, news agencies reported. The committee, which met in the Zambian capital Lusaka on Friday, expressed concern at the pace with which the UN was handling the request for the deployment of peacekeepers, which it said was slower than its response to similar situations in other parts of the world, the Panafrican News Agency (PANA) reported on Saturday. In a statement, the committee commended the warring parties for “generally keeping the peace” since the signing of the accord in July, PANA said. At a meeting last week of the Joint Military Commission (JMC), which is “answerable” to the Political Committee, the warring parties provided “written declarations of security guarantees” for UN personnel and property deployed under the Lusaka accord.