Communiqué of Second Meeting of Regional Oversight Mechanism of Peace, Security

 

and Cooperation Framework for Democratic Republic of Congo and Region

 

We, signatories to the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Region, held our second meeting of the regional oversight mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Region on 23 September in New York, on the margins of the sixty-eighth General Assembly of the United Nations.  This high-level meeting was jointly convened by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.  The purpose of the meeting was to review developments in the region and progress in the implementation of the Framework, including benchmarks drafted by the Technical Support Committee.

The Heads of States, Heads of Government or representatives of the following signatories participated in the meeting:  Democratic Republic of the Congo; Angola; Burundi; Republic of the Congo; Rwanda; South Africa; South Sudan; United Republic of Tanzania; Uganda; and Zambia.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) also participated in the deliberations.

We reaffirmed our respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all the countries in the region.

We strongly condemned the resumption of hostilities by the M23, which have resulted in numerous civilian casualties and caused extensive damage in the occupied areas and in the city of Goma, including the repeated attacks against the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), the peacekeepers of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) and the humanitarian workers.  We condemned the shelling on the territory of Rwanda.  We further condemned all negative forces, including the Mayi Mayi, the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU) and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), latest action of the latter having led to continuing massive internal displacements and flow of refugees.

We commended Yoweri Museveni, Chairperson of ICGLR, for his tireless efforts towards a negotiated solution to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and urged the parties to bring the Kampala Dialogue to a swift conclusion, in line with the decision of the Seventh Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the ICGLR, held on 5 September 2013.

We welcomed and encouraged the other ongoing political dialogue initiatives in the region, in particular the quadripartite “Oyo” process.

We welcomed and encouraged the efforts of Joseph Kabila Kabange and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in developing and adopting national benchmarks under the Framework as well as the progress accomplished in the reforms, which complement and mutually reinforce the regional commitments.

We welcomed the work of the Technical Support Committee (TSC) in drawing up regional benchmarks and indicators of progress with clearly identified responsibilities and timelines for the implementation of the Framework.

We adopted the final report of the TSC, including the regional benchmarks.  We also welcome the progress made in developing the international benchmarks and encourage the TSC to work closely with the international partners with the view to refining those benchmarks.  We further requested the TSC to develop a detailed plan of action for the implementation of the Framework, in close coordination with existing regional, international and national mechanisms.

We welcomed the recent visit of a team led by Mary Robinson, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes, and comprising Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), Boubacar Diarra, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union for the Great Lakes, Koen Vervaeke, Senior Coordinator of the European Union for the Great Lakes, and Russ Feingold, Special Envoy of the United States for the Great Lakes, to support regional efforts.

We requested the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of MONUSCO, the Special Envoy of the United States for the Great Lakes, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union for the Great Lakes, and the Senior Coordinator of the European Union for the Great Lakes, to provide political and technical support to the Kampala Dialogue to swiftly conclude the Dialogue. 

We requested the United Nations System to urgently find a definitive solution to the former M23 combatants interned in eastern Rwanda since March 2013.

We commended the ICGLR and SADC for their continued joint efforts in promoting peace and security in the Great Lakes region and looked forward to their upcoming joint Summit.

We appealed to international development partners to work towards the provision of immediate peace dividends on the ground, through quick impact projects at local and regional levels targeting, in particular, women and youth as well as through other relevant projects of the ICGLR and the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Region (CEPGL).

We welcomed the establishment of a multi-country multi-donor trust fund to support the implementation of priority programmes and projects and urged the Special Envoy to use her good offices to promote and gather international support for the implementation of the Framework..

We expressed our gratitude to the partners and friends of the Great Lakes who continue to show interest and support to the countries of the region and called on the partners to work in close collaboration with the co-witnesses to support the implementation of the Framework.

We took note of the requests by the Governments of Kenya and Sudan to join the Framework and agreed to welcome these two countries at the forthcoming meeting of the Regional Oversight Mechanism.

We extended appreciation to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for co-hosting this important meeting and expressed our deep gratitude to the Heads of State in the region for their participation.

We agreed to meet again on the margins of the Twenty-second Summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa in January 2014 to review the implementation of the Framework further.

Finally, we strongly condemned the deplorable act of terrorism committed in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on 21 September and expressed our deepest condolences to the Government and people of the Republic of Kenya.

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For information media • not an official record