VARIOUS: U.N SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN MEETS REBELS AND URGES KISANGANI TO BE DEMILITARISED/ ANNAN THEN GOES TO RWANDA FOR FURTHER TALKS

Record ID: 222800

  • Title: VARIOUS: U.N SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN MEETS REBELS AND URGES KISANGANI TO BE DEMILITARISED/ ANNAN THEN GOES TO RWANDA FOR FURTHER TALKS
  • Date: 3rd September 2001
  • Summary: KISANGANI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (SEPTEMBER 3, 2001 REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN STEPPING OFF PLANE WITH HIS WIFE 0.06 2. WIDE OF ANNAN AND AIDES WALKING ACROSS RUNWAY 0.10 3. WIDE OF CROWDS WITH BANNERS CHANTING 0.12 4. SLV ANNAN WAVING AT CROWDS 0.15 5. VARIOUS, OF CROWDS CHEERING HOLDING BANNERS ASKING FOR KISANGANI TO BE DEMILITARIZED (2 SHOTS) 0.19 6. SLV ANNAN SHAKING HANDS WITH LOCAL LEADERS 0.24 7. WIDE/ SLV OF UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS OUTSIDE BASE IN KISANGANI (2 SHOTS) 0.29 8. GV EXTERIOR UNITED NATIONS (U.N. BUILDING)/ SIGN (2 SHOTS) 0.35 9. WIDE OF ANNAN SEATED WITH ARCHBISHOP OF KISANGANI AND THE UN SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE TO THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO KAMEL MORJAN 0.41 10. SCU SOUNDBITE (French) KOFI ANNAN: "We must make peace for the people, for the Congolese and for the women and children who are suffering." 0.49 11. VARIOUS ,ANNAN BEING WELCOMED BY A BAND OF THE U.N. SOLDIERS (2 SHOTS) 0.57 KIGALI, RWANDA (SEPTEMBER 3, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. SLV ANNAN WALKING WITH RWANDAN PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME 1.05 13. VARIOUS, ANNAN AND KAGAME IN MEETING (3 SHOTS) 1.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KISANGANI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO/KIGALI, RWANDA
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVAAT5R1GUB523HWETJ475VOFHG2
  • Story Text: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has met rebels in
    the Democratic Republic of Congo and urged them to withdraw
    from Kisangani, a strategic town whose scars symbolise the
    country's ruinous war.



    Hundreds of cheering locals crowded outside the
    airport at Kisangani on Monday (September 3) to echo Annan's
    call for demilitarisation of the town on the Congo river.

    "I think we've had a very constructive discussion and I
    believe there's a real understanding of the issues," Annan
    told reporters. "We're going to continue our discussion."
    Kisangani presents a telling image of the destruction
    wrought by three years of war in the former Zaire, and the way
    the conflict has partly turned into a fight for the Congo's
    abundant natural resources.

    Ugandan and Rwandan forces, nominally allies fighting the
    Congolese government, clashed several times last year for
    control of Kisangani and its lucrative diamond trade, killing
    hundreds of civilians and shelling much of the town.

    Kisangani is also of strategic and symbolic importance.

    Its position on the Congo river in the northeast affords
    control of the economic lifeline of a country the size of
    Western Europe but with few passable roads.

    Annan's three-day visit to the Congo was aimed at
    bolstering the peace process in a war that has sucked in half
    a dozen foreign armies and claimed more than a million lives.

    Annan held talks with senior rebel officials including
    Adolphe Onusumba, leader of the Rwandan-backed Rally for
    Congolese Democracy (RCD), and representatives of churches and
    organisations working in the city.

    The U.N. Security Council called last year for a complete
    demilitarisation of Kisangani, but RCD rebels have refused to
    withdraw completely and U.N. officials say they still have
    around 2,000 soldiers in the town.

    Annan said on Sunday he was encouraged by recent
    progress towards peace but warned there was still a long way
    to go.

    He later arrived in the Rwandan capital Kigali for talks
    with President Paul Kagame, who has more than 10,000 soldiers
    in the Congo.




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