UN envoy welcomes regional efforts on DRC

The Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General to the Great Lakes Region, Mary Robinson said she is confident that efforts by the regional Heads of State to help stabilise the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will bear fruits. The official said this yesterday while wrapping up a three-day visit to the region which also took her to DRC and Uganda, where she attended the seventh meeting of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Kampala. “We welcome the decision of ICGLR members emphasising the necessity of the deadline to conclude the talks between the DRC government and M23 rebels”, said Robinson during a news briefing in Kigali. Regional leaders meeting at an emergency summit in Kampala on Thursday directed that the offensive against M23 rebel group be halted to allow peace talks to resume. The emergency regional summit, chaired by President Yoweri Museveni in his capacity as chairperson of the ICGLR was also attended by Presidents Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Joseph Kabila (DRC), Jakaya Kikwete (Tanzania) and South Sudan’s Salva Kiir. “We resolved to make this visit because of the exigency of the conflict going on in Eastern DRC,” said Robinson. The UN envoy was accompanied by other special envoys from the African Union, the United States of America and the European Union. Yesterday, the delegation met with Rwandan top officials, including the Head of State, the Minister of Defence and the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Speaking at the same news briefing, Russ Feilgold, the US special envoy for African great lakes region said, that “it feels to me that it is a great effort. Our message was that there should be a continuation of Kampala talks.” Robinson said they were particularly pleased that President Kagame shared his commitment to support the joint verification team in DRC. The Presidents directed the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) to complete verification process and provide a report to the chairperson of the committee of the ministers of defence as soon as possible on the recent bombings from the DRC territory that resulted in the death of a woman in Rwanda’s western border district of Rubavu. The envoys said their presence signifies a strong support from the international community and other organisations to end conflicts caused by the armed groups. “We were able to project our message that our presence as international envoys signifies that international commitment to the region is much more serious and comes in sustainable way than it has been in the past,” Robinson said.