welcoming summit between presidents of rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo,

Secretary-General hopes better ties will boost well-being of both peoples

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General welcomes yesterday’s summit in Goma between President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, the first official bilateral meeting since the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda broke off diplomatic relations in 1996.

The Secretary-General commends both leaders’ commitment to promote peace and stability in the Great Lakes region, and their efforts to jointly address the destabilizing and threatening presence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), who continue to carry out widespread killings and rapes of Congolese civilians in the Kivus.

The Secretary-General is encouraged by the pledge made by the two Presidents to consolidate the renewal of their relationship through future meetings in both Kigali and Kinshasa.  Security and development go hand in hand, and the Secretary-General hopes that the normalization of the relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda will contribute to the well-being of the people of both countries.

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For information media • not an official record