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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

South Africa: Pretoria remains engaged in DRC peace process

JOHANNESBURG, 4 April 2003 (IRIN) - South African President Thabo Mbeki said his government's commitment to peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) went beyond the signing of an all-party peace agreement in Sun City this week.

"We are committed to stay the course with the Congolese people as they work to implement the agreements they have entered into. Accordingly, our engagement with the DRC did not end with the signing of The Final Act at Sun City this week. The struggle for the renewal of the DRC continues," Mbeki said in a letter published on Friday in the weekly e-publication, ANC Today.

Mbeki said South Africa had been involved in efforts to help resolve the conflict in the DRC since 1996.

"We have stayed with this issue since then because we felt a keen sense of solidarity with the Congolese people, and understood the importance of a peaceful, united, stable and democratic DRC to the achievement of the goals of African unity and the African Renaissance."

Mbeki said he had reminded the participants at the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) on Wednesday, that lasting peace rested on the successful implementation of the agreement.

"Speaking at the closing session of the ICD, among other things, we said: 'The agreements arrived at in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue open the way to the rebirth of the DRC, the land of the great Patrice Lumumba. Whether that dream is transformed into reality will depend on what you, the leaders of the Congolese people, do."

At the final session of the talks, the DRC government, rebel movements, political opposition parties and representatives of civil society agreed to set up a transitional government to oversee democratic elections after two years.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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