REPRESENTATIVE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN CRISIS IN HIS COUNTRY CORRECTION

Press Release
GA/9550/

REPRESENTATIVE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO CALLS ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN CRISIS IN HIS COUNTRY CORRECTION

The statement of the representative of Uganda on page 9 of Press Release GA/9550 of 24 March should read as follows:

MATIA MULUMBA SEMAKULA KIWANUKA (Uganda), reiterating his country's position, said that Uganda was committed to searching for a peaceful solution to the crisis. Uganda had no territorial ambitions on Congolese territory. It was important that some statements made in the Assembly be refuted. The fact was that Uganda did not have, and had never offered, military bases for those fighting against its neighbours. On the contrary, Sudan had offered bases for those fighting against Uganda. Sudan had provided security for the Lord's Resistance Army.

He said that Sudan and Zimbabwe had made allegations about Uganda's leadership, including that it was led by an oppressive regime, which had refused to hold democratic elections. Uganda was not a model democracy for everyone, but it was proud of its democratic tradition. During the last 13 years, the country had held elections and had an inclusive government. It had a free press -- to the extent that anyone could call the President names and not be locked up. He could not challenge the delegations, which had made the allegations, but he could invite them to Uganda to see for themselves the level of freedom Ugandans had enjoyed during the last 13 years under the present government. One speaker had referred to President Yoweri Museveni as an admirer of Hitler. That comment could not be dignified with a response.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Human Rights Watch and other non-governmental organizations had stated that Ugandan children had been abducted into Sudan and sold into slavery, he continued. Those were facts. His Government could not be accused of manufacturing falsehoods. There was a war in southern Sudan. Uganda was not responsible for that war. He appealed to the Assembly to support the ongoing peaceful initiatives undertaken by the OAU, SADC and Libya, so that peace and tranquillity could reign in his region, and especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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