26 07 13 Associated Press: Kerry tackles Congo and Syria conflicts

 

State
Department spokesman Jen Psaki said Wednesday the U.S.
believes the Congo
agreement presents the region and the international community "with the
unique opportunity to address the security, economic and … governance issues
underlying the chronic instability and conflict in the region."

U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to address Thursday's council
meeting along with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, U.N. special envoy for
Africa's Great Lakes region Mary Robinson, the foreign ministers of Congo and Uganda, and African Union
Commissioner Lamamra Ramtane.

Rwanda, which is serving
a two-year term on the Security Council, is also sending its foreign minister
who will also speak along with the 14 other council members.

The
signatories of the peace deal include Rwanda
and Uganda, which were
accused in a U.N. report last year of helping aid the M23 rebel group which
swept through eastern Congo
in 2012 and captured the key city of Goma
in November but pulled out under international pressure.

A report
last month by U.N. experts monitoring sanctions against Congo said
Rwandan support for the M23 movement had waned but not ended in the past six
months. A subsequent report by Human Rights Watch said the rebel group still
received training and supplies and was able to recruit in Rwanda.

Both Rwanda and Uganda deny aiding the M23, which
began in April 2012 when hundreds of troops defected from the Congolese armed
forces.

The United States wants the Security Council to
adopt a presidential statement on the Congo
peace effort but diplomats said Rwanda
objected to some of the proposed language related to the M23. A tentative
agreement on the text was reached Wednesday and council members sent it to
capitals for approval with a deadline of Thursday morning, the diplomats said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.

The
council has authorized a new intervention brigade for Congo with an
unprecedented mandate to attack rebel groups, alone or with Congolese army
troops, to neutralize and disarm armed groups.

In the
late afternoon, Kerry is scheduled to meet with the newly elected leader of the
Syrian National Coalition, Ahmed al-Jarba, and his delegation who flew to New York from Paris
where they held talks with President Francois Hollande.

France pushed for humanitarian
corridors in Syria
during the meeting and Hollande also discussed the delegation's demand to
deliver weapons to its combatants.

Psaki,
the State Department spokeswoman, said Kerry's meeting with the delegation
provides an opportunity to "discuss with them not only the situation on
the ground, but the path forward towards a political solution." She said
they will also discuss ways to bolster U.S.
assistance to local communities in Syria.

The
National Coalition delegation, which also includes Michel Kilo and Burhan
Ghalioun, is expected to meet a number of U.N. ambassadors later Thursday at a
session hosted by Germany.
On Friday, the opposition group will meet informally with the Security Council.