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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Great Lakes: Leaders pledge to adhere to peace pacts

NAIROBI, 10 April 2003 (IRIN) - Heads of state from the Great Lakes region pledged at a summit on Wednesday in Cape Town, South Africa, to avoid more violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), news organisations reported.

The summit was convened by South African President Thabo Mbeki to find "ways of resolving escalating intra and inter-state conflict in the region", the South African Press Association (SAPA) said, quoting officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Presidents Joseph Kabila (DRC), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania) and Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) attended the one-day summit.

After the meeting, Kabila told journalists that those responsible for the 3 April massacre in Drodro, Ituri district in Orientale province, DRC, had not yet been identified. But if caught, "justice would take its course", SAPA reported.

"The United Nations team on the ground is trying to get the correct information on who is involved and why," Kabila was quoted as saying. He attributed the violence to "impunity" over crimes committed.

Mbeki told journalists that agreement had been reached among the leaders that Uganda would pull its troops out of DRC by 24 April. "This has been confirmed. We have spoken to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to request that some of the MONUC [UN peacekeeping mission] forces in the DRC be deployed to the Ituri region," Mbeki said.

Museveni said his troops were in Ituri district to counter a "very vicious terrorist campaign" being waged against his country from Sudan. He said rebels had been moving from Sudan into Uganda through DRC, but that his troops were ready to leave Ituri if MONUC forces were deployed.

All parties to the conflict in the DRC signed an agreemeent on 2 April to end more than four years of fighting.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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