03 09 13 Xinhua: Uganda calls emergency summit on DRC crisis

A statement
issued by the state-owned Uganda
Media Center
late on Sunday said the meeting, which will convene on Thursday, will bring
together 11 member countries of the International Conference of the Great Lakes
Region (ICGLR), a regional body peace and security.

"Following
the deteriorating situation in the eastern DRC, particularly in the recent days
resulting in the death and injury of peacekeepers from the Force Intervention
Brigade, Uganda
as chair of the ICGLR, felt it was very urgent to convene an Extra- Ordinary
Summit on September 5, 2013. The UN is also expected to be represented in the
summit," the statement said.

The
summit will be preceded by the joint meeting of ministers of foreign affairs
and defense scheduled for Sept. 4.

The
Ugandan government said earlier decisions by the ICGLR, including supporting
the Kampala
mediated peace talks between the DRC government and the M23 rebels, must be
upheld.

The Sept.
5 summit is seen as a regional effort to help find a lasting solution to the
conflict that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the mineral
rich central African country.