UNITED STATES: CONGO FOREIGN MINISTER OKITUNDU ASK'S UNITED STATES TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN ITS ASSISTANCE

Record ID: 338342

  • Title: UNITED STATES: CONGO FOREIGN MINISTER OKITUNDU ASK'S UNITED STATES TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE IN ITS ASSISTANCE
  • Date: 4th May 2001
  • Summary: (U7) WASHINGTON, D.C., USA (MAY 4, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV: MINISTER OF STATE IN CHARGE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS LEONARD SHE OKITUNDU OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO WALKING OUT OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT 0.17 2. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) OKITUNDU SAYING: "I came to ask that the U.S. be more aggressive in search for a solution in the conflict in the Congo." 0.46 3. WIDE SHOT 0.49 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) OKITUNDU SAYING: "The Secretary told me that all the pressure would be put on all the parties so that everybody can respect the engagement details." 1.07 5. SV: PEOPLE LISTENING 1.10 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) OKITUNDU SAYING: "According to the information I have, there is an agreement that has been signed today in Lusaka between all the parties the rebels and the government." / OKITUNDU WALKS AWAY 1.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th May 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA6AVY99KUXEYLT20C08E2DQ645
  • Story Text: Congo's three-year civil war has brought six foreign
    armies to the mineral-rich African country promoting a meeting
    on Friday (May 4) where the Congo's foreign minister asked the
    U.S. to be more aggressive in its assistance.


    The meeting in Washington on Friday (May 4) brought
    together politicians from the troubled central African region.

    Burundi, along with Rwanda and Uganda, supports various
    rebel groups in the conflict to gain control of the Congo
    while Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to help the
    government.

    The Congo Minister of State in charge of Foreign Affairs,
    Leonard She Okitundu said, "I came to ask that the U.S. be
    more aggressive in search for a solution in the conflict in
    the Congo."
    A U.N. report said the exploitation of timber, gold,
    diamonds and other resources in the Congo was carried out in a
    "systematic and systemic fashion". It urged the Security
    Council to punish Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi by halting their
    trade in minerals.

    Congo rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has agreed to
    withdraw his troops from frontline positions in the war-torn
    African country two days after he had refused to do so on
    security grounds, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.

    Okitundu said "The Secretary told me that all the pressure
    would be put on all the parties so that everybody can respect
    the engagement details."
    Special U.N. envoy Kamel Morjane told Reuters in the
    Zambian capital Lusaka that Bemba, of the Uganda-backed
    Congolese Liberation Front, had given the go-ahead for the
    deployment of U.N. personnel around the small towns of Befale,
    Bolomba and Emite.

    He had also agreed to pull his troops back by as much as
    100 km (62 miles) in fulfilling a disengagement pact reached
    with other warring groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
    but which only he has so far refused to honour. Morjane met
    Bemba on Thursday in Lusaka. Bemba and other Congolese rebel
    leaders as well as Congo Security Minister Mwenze Kongolo are
    in Lusaka to sign a declaration of principles on an all-party
    internal dialogue on the political future of their country.

    Okitundu said, "According to the information I have, there
    is an agreement that has been signed today in Lusaka between
    all the parties the rebels and the government."
    Uganda said late last month that it was withdrawing from
    the U.N.-sponsored peace process in response to a U.N. report
    accusing Uganda, Rwanda and their rebel allies of plundering
    Congo's wealth.


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