PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The Security Council must show "clear support" for regional efforts to achieve peace in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, André Mwamba Kapanga, the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, told a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

He said that if the Council were to put its weight behind those efforts, a solution to the conflict would be found "very quickly". He told a questioner that he had not received a response to a letter he had addressed to the President of the Council on the situation in the country.

"What is surprising is that 500 people had been killed (recently in eastern Congo) and there had absolutely been no statement from the Council", he observed. "The impression one has is that the Security Council is paralysed, totally paralysed by the Iraqi problem. The rest of the world is non-existent. This is an outrage, especially for the body which is charged with taking care of peace and security around the world." He had been surprised, he said, that the Democratic Republic of the Congo had not figured in the Council's programme. "It is shocking", he added.

He said the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been raging for the last five months, and the Council's reaction had been only statements. It had made no efforts to put an end to the conflict. There had to be involvement by the Security Council and the United Nations for solutions to be found to some of Africa's problems. "But we haven't seen that", he said, adding there seemed "apparently to be a total neglect of the African region". The consequence was that "innocent children, women and the elderly are dying on a daily basis", he said.

A correspondent asked whether he believed that African problems got short shrift compared with others -- particularly today during a briefing in which the Secretary-General's Spokesman only had "sketchy information" on what was happening in Sierra Leone, and none on the events in the eastern Congo. Mr. Kapanga said problems in Asia, Europe and Africa had to be accorded the same weight. "One had the impression that what is happening in Africa is irrelevant to the Security Council, is irrelevant to the institution that we call the United Nations." He said that if the Secretary-General's Spokesman did not know what was going on in Sierra Leone, then it "shows us the level of interest that the Organization is showing to the problems of Africa". He said the Security Council and the United Nations were not paying attention to the problems of Africa.

He told a questioner that Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad were some of the allies of his country in the present conflict. Those countries had not waited for others "to decide just overnight to overthrow a legitimate government" and impose leaders on the people. Zambian and Tanzanian leaders

had also been engaged in efforts to find a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) had also been involved in similar efforts.

He said President Laurent Kabila would be in Lusaka for a meeting scheduled for between 12 and 16 of January, and expected to sign a ceasefire.

In opening remarks, Mr. Kapanga said that at the outbreak of the current war, his Government had informed the Security Council that it had been invaded by two neighbouring countries -- Rwanda and Uganda. Those countries had at first denied their involvement in the armed aggression, attributing it to an internal rebellion. However, three months later, they had acknowledged their direct involvement since the beginning of the war. "This recognition was, in effect, an acceptance that these two countries had violated the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo" and of the Charters of both the United Nations and the OAU.

He said his Government had repeatedly asked the Security Council to vigorously condemn both Rwanda and Uganda for their actions; to ask them to immediately withdraw their troops from Congolese territory; and to put an end to the violation of the human rights of the Congolese people in the areas they had occupied.

"The silence of the Security Council on this issue has encouraged the two invading countries in their obstinacy to occupy Congolese territory", he said. The price of the occupation had been the systematic pillage of Congolese minerals in the occupied territories; a destruction of the Congolese rain forest whose timber was methodically being sent to Uganda en masse; and the killing of innocent civilians throughout the areas occupied by the Rwandan and Ugandan forces.

He said that last August, there had been reports of massacres perpetrated by Rwandan forces in Kasika, and last week soldiers of the Patriotic Rwandan Army had committed more massacres. Among the 500 victims were innocent civilians, mostly, children, women and the elderly.

His Government had asked the Security Council to assume its full responsibility by condemning those "criminal acts by Rwandan soldiers on Congolese territory". It had not only asked the Council to do so, but also to open an inquiry into killings of innocent civilians by Rwandan and Ugandan coalition soldiers both in Kasika and Makobola.

He informed correspondents that throughout the various negotiations to resolve the conflict, his Government had been keen to find a peaceful solution. It had attended most of those negotiations and had also accepted a regional plan put together by Zambian President Chiluba. His Government had agreed to sign a ceasefire, followed by the deployment of an interposition force to monitor the withdrawal of all foreign forces. "Unfortunately, the negotiations had not

Dem. Rep. of Congo Press Conference - 3 - 7 January 1999

moved forward because of the intransigence of Rwanda and Uganda, who are keen on imposing a way for the Congolese people to resolve their internal problems", he asserted.

His Government had stated its intention to liberalize political party activities at the end of January, culminating in the organization of elections, he said, recalling the promise by the Government when it took over 19 months ago that it would put in place, after two years, a democratic system in the country. He added: "We are on schedule and we hope that the invading forces will pull out of our country to allow the Congolese people to finally elect in a free and fair manner their leaders."

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