04 10 13 Xinhua: UN Security Council to visit Great Lakes Region

 

"The
15 members of the Security Council will depart New York this afternoon on a trip to the
Great Lakes Region of Africa. The delegation will travel to the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia," said Martin
Nesirky, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at the daily
briefing.

"One
of the aims of this visit is to reiterate the Security Council's support for
the implementation of the commitments under the Peace, Security and Cooperation
Framework for the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and the Region,"
Nesirky said.

According
to Nesirky, on its way to Africa, the delegation will stop in Brussels, where it will meet with the Political
and Security Committee of the European Union.

On
their first stop within Africa, the Council members will meet in Kinshasa, the capital
city of the DRC, with senior government officials, including President Joseph
Kabila.

"On
Sunday, it will depart to Goma in the eastern part of the DRC, where members of
the delegation will meet civil society representatives and visit a camp for
internally displaced people," said the spokesman. "Then, they will
travel to Kigali, Rwanda."

After
meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali,
the delegation will travel to Entebbe, a major
town in central Uganda,
to meet with President Yoweri Mseeveni before heading to their last stop.

"The
last leg of the visit to the Great Lakes region will be Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On Tuesday, Oct. 8, the Security Council delegation will meet with Prime
Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and with the Peace and Security Council of the
African Union," said Nesirky.

The
delegation will return to New York
on Oct. 9, he added.

The Framework
was adopted in February in Addis Ababa
in the presence of the UN chief, with the support of the government of DRC
along with 10 other African nations and four international organizations, and
aims to end the cycles of conflict and crisis in the eastern DRC and to build
peace in the long-troubled region.

Over
the past year, the M23, a rebel military group based in eastern DRC, had joined
other armed groups and clashed repeatedly with the DRC national forces (FARDC).
The fighting resumed in August, this time dragging in a group of Ugandan-based
rebels.

According
to UN figures, the clashes displaced more than 100, 000 people, exacerbating
the region's ongoing humanitarian crisis, which has seen 2.6 million people
displaced internally and 6.4 million in need of food and emergency aid.