08 11 13 Xinhua: UN mission calls for political settlement to DR Congo crisis

 

"The
UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) has confirmed that
the Congolese army now has completed control over all areas previously
controlled by the M23 rebel movement," said Farhan Haq, acting deputy UN
spokesperson, at a daily briefing.

"MONUSCO
supported the actions of the Congolese armed forces, fulfilling its mandate to
protect civilians and neutralize armed groups," Haq said.

M23
leader Bertrand Bisimwa said on Tuesday that his commanders were being advised
to lay down arms as part of a peace deal to be reached with the government.

Martin
Kobler, UN special representative in the country who heads MONUSCO, "says
that it is important to find a political settlement through concluding the Kampala process,"
Haq said. "The UN mission warned the other armed groups that they should
not take advantage of the current void left by the disbanding of the M23 or
face action by MONUSCO troops mandated with protecting civilians."

The rebel
group's surrender came after a crushing assault by the UN-backed army pushed
them out of the country's mineral-rich east. The insurgents, who at their
strongest occupied the regional hub Goma for 10 days a year ago, called for a
truce on Sunday, but the army pressed on with its assault.

The
rebels have held off-and-on talks with the DRC government in the Ugandan
capital of Kampala.