DR Congo, M23 talks: Uganda’s Kiyonga urges more commitment

Uganda’s Minister for Defence and facilitator of the DR Congo-M23 dialogue has commended both parties for quickly concluding the review of the 23rd March 2009 peace agreement signed between Kinshasa and the then CNDP rebels.“This was a very important stage and the two delegations have agreed on what has been done and what is yet to be done,” Kiyonga told a session convened by both sides.The last extraordinary summit of regional Heads of State organised under the auspices of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) gave two weeks to conclude the talks.Kiyonga said ever since the summit closed, consultations have been ongoing behind closed doors.“Time is nearly running out. Let’s take our commitment to a higher level and work even harder so that we can conclude as soon as possible,” Kiyonga said.The minister said discussions have been going on on matters concerning transformation of M23, integration and demobilisation, return of refugees from exile, and from the neighbouring countries, return of internally displaced persons to their homes, return of properties which have irregularly exchanged hands and how they should be handled.“Other areas are, national reconciliation, and more or less agreement that certain issues need to be formally investigated by a commission of inquiry,” Kiyonga said.Articles to assessOthers are article eight which deals with national reconciliation and justice, article nine which concerns a proposed independent commission of inquiry and article ten which looks at issues of governance and social economic reforms.Also to be assessed are Article 11, which deals with the implementation of the outcomes of the review of the peace agreement of CNDP; Article 12, which concerns declaration of disaster areas; and Article 13, which deals with the issue of implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

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DR Congo, M23 talks: Uganda’s Kiyonga urges more commitment