FOLLOWING MEETING OF PRESIDENTS KAGAME, KABILA, SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON BOTH

LEADERS TO STOP ONGOING FIGHTING IN EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is encouraged by the recent meeting of Presidents Kagame and Kabila in Malawi.  He hopes that the meeting will be followed up by further contacts between the two leaders, as well as a more detailed dialogue between the two Governments on key aspects of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region.  At the same time, the two leaders should do their utmost to stop the ongoing fighting in the east of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, which threatens to undermine the peace process.

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