DRC: rebel group blocks peace in northeast

DR OF CONGO: UN MISSION CHIEF SAYS REBEL GROUP BLOCKING PEACE IN NORTHEAST
New York, Feb 19 2003 2:00PM

The top United Nations envoy for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
said today he would seek Security Council action if a rebel group did not
stop blocking peace efforts in the Ituri region, where half a million
people have been displaced, women raped and many children enlisted as soldiers.

Noting that civilians there were subjected to "extraordinary human
suffering," Amos Namanga Ngongi, the Secretary-General's Special
Representative for the DRC, regretted that the signing of a ceasefire for
Ituri could not take place today as planned because "the leader of the
Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) did not want the peacemaking process to
begin."

Speaking at a press conference in Kinshasa, Mr. Ngongi said that UPC leader
Thomas Lubanga had cast doubt on the participation of other groups in
Ituri, which borders Uganda, and on the sincerity of Uganda and the DRC.
The peace plan, part of an overall effort to bring peace to the war-torn
country, was drawn up at a summit meeting in Luanda, Angola, last September.

Mr. Ngongi has suspended an updated timetable set at a consultative summit
in Dar es Salaam earlier this month. Under that plan the Ituri Pacification
Commission was to begin work on 25 February. "If this commission is not set
up it will not be possible to install an administration in this part of the
country that is recognized by everybody," he said.

The UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) would continue to try to
persuade Mr. Lubanga, who has claimed sole legitimate right to control the
entire Ituri region, to rejoin the peace process, Mr. Ngongi said.

"Thomas Lubanga must give assurances so that everybody, including his
adversaries, may join in the process," he said, regretting "this negative
attitude which has annihilated much progress made towards resolving this
crisis."

UN News Service