UN should fund Congo peace efforts – Museveni

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has called on the United Nations to fund the operations of the proposed 4,000-strong neutral international force to enable it to pacify eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).Museveni is the current chairperson of the International Conference on the Great Lakes (ICGLR), a position held on a rotational basis among all the eleven member states.In a meeting with journalists at his country home in Rwakitura on Monday, Museveni said that he had sent a delegation to lobby for the funding at the UN General Assembly.“If they fund it, I believe the Tanzanian army can do the job like we have done the job in Somalia. I don’t think the groups in DRC are more dangerous than the Al Shaabab,” he said. Tanzania has offered to contribute troops to the neutral international force. During Heads of State and Government Summit in Kampala early this month, other ICGLR member states were urged to make a similar commitments within one month. The humanitarian situation remains dire in eastern DRC, with over 226,000 people displaced in North Kivu alone in the past several months while over 57,000 Congolese have crossed into Rwanda and Uganda. In his message to ICGLR Heads of State Summit, held in Kampala, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the UN stands ready to provide support in cooperation with the African Union, regional and international partners.He encouraged bilateral and regional level dialogue aimed at finding a lasting solution by addressing the underlying causes of the conflict.ICGLR Heads of State will meet again in Kampala early next moth to review progress on the implementation of the decisions taken during the previous summit.

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UN should fund Congo peace efforts – Museveni