29/11/12 United States Department of State(Washington, DC) – Congo-Kinshasa: Humanitarian Toll in Eastern Congo 'Devastating,' Clinton Says

Speaking
with African Union (AU) Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma November 28 in Washington,
Clinton said the United States strongly condemns the
"tactics of fear and intimidation" that have accompanied the conflict
since a rebellion broke out in the region in April.

 

Clinton
said more than 285,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and are in
need of critical assistance. In addition, she said, health workers in the city
of Goma have
been killed and abducted, and civil society and human rights activists as well
as judicial authorities throughout the DRC have received death threats.

 

The
secretary said the Obama administration has welcomed an agreement reached
November 24 in
Kampala, Uganda,
between the leaders of the DRC, Uganda
and Rwanda to try to
peacefully resolve the conflict, including ending "any and all
support" for the M23 rebel group that has captured Goma and other parts of
eastern Congo.

 

The
AU joined the November 24 discussions in Kampala, where the parties agreed that
M23 "must be out" of areas it has seized in eastern Congo and be
replaced by a neutral force, while President Kabila will listen to and evaluate
the group's concerns.

 

"There
is only one way forward" for M23, Clinton
said. "They must meet their commitments under the Kampala Accords to cease
their attacks, withdraw from Goma, and pull back to the July lines."

 

Under
the Kampala
agreement, the DRC government led by President Joseph Kabila "has agreed
to hear and address the grievances of the M23 leaders," she said.

 

The
agreement offers "a path forward," Clinton said, but "it is up to the
parties now to hold themselves accountable, and each other, for acting on those
agreements."

 

Clinton
praised the role of the AU in working to resolve African conflicts, including
in Somalia, the Darfur
region of Sudan and Mali, and between Sudan
and South Sudan. She said the United States
also supports the AU's leadership in facilitating a resolution to the conflict
in eastern DRC.

 

"The
AU is the partner who is best able to empower and mobilize the resources and
the will throughout the continent to address crises, and we are very pleased to
see this strong role getting even stronger," she said.

 

Dlamini-Zuma
said the AU is focusing its work to bring about "a prosperous Africa which is at peace with itself and the world."