SECRETARY-GENERAL ‘DEEPLY DISTURBED’ BY NEWS OF ABDUCTION OF TWO UN MILITARY OBSERVERS IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

SECRETARY-GENERAL ‘DEEPLY DISTURBED’ BY NEWS OF ABDUCTION OF TWO UN MILITARY

OBSERVERS IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

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

The Secretary-General is deeply disturbed by the news of the abduction of two United Nations military observers serving with the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) in the town of Beni in the eastern part of the country.

The Secretary-General urges all warring parties in the area and beyond to cooperate unconditionally in the release of the missing military observers.  He also stresses the importance of complying with, and welcomes, the Acte d’Engagement for the Cessation of Hostilities in the eastern and north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo signed in Bujumbura yesterday, under the mediation of his Special Representative, Amos Namanga Ngongi.

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