BELGIUM: EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urges Congo's rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba to disarm

Record ID: 785132

  • Title: BELGIUM: EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urges Congo's rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba to disarm
  • Date: 24th March 2007
  • Summary: SOLANA VISITING EXHIBITION MARKING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION SOLANA WATCHING SOLANA WALKING THROUGH EXHIBITION
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: International Relations,European Union
  • Reuters ID: LVA1MIL082G74WZLY092FQ4E6VFI
  • Story Text: EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has urged Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba to ease tension in the conflict-riven African nation by disarming.

    European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba on Friday (March 23) to ease tension in the central African country by disarming and also called on President Joseph Kabila to treat opponents fairly.
    Solana made the comment after visiting an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the EU. To mark the occasion, a sailing boat named Treaty of Rome was displayed in front of the European Council.
    "I think in a country, in a country after the elections the tendency is -- slowly sometimes but as rapidly as possible -- to have one armed forces, and only one," Solana told Reuters, asked about the first fighting in Kinshasa since elections last October.
    "On the part of Kabila, he has to understand also that he has to give time, and has to behave also properly with leaders of the opposition," Solana added.
    Government troops are battling the forces of Bemba, a former rebel leader who was defeated by Kabila in last year's elections.
    The Democratic Republic of Congo's state prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for high treason for Bemba, blaming him for a series of killings and rapes.
    Solana said he was following with concern developments in Kinshasa.
    The battles began on Thursday (March 22) when Bemba's forces defied a government order to disarm.
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