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UN envoys back Congo's Kabila against Rwandan rebels
UN envoys met Congo President Joseph Kabila on Saturday and backed his plans to disarm and expel Rwandan rebels and to refocus the biggest UN peace force on rebuilding his shattered nation.
- Agencies
- Published: 09:16 June 8, 2008
Kinshasa: UN envoys met Congo President Joseph Kabila on Saturday and backed his plans to disarm and expel Rwandan rebels and to refocus the biggest UN peace force on rebuilding his shattered nation.
The ambassadors reassured Kabila the peacekeepers who have backed his army's efforts to control almost daily clashes with local militias and Rwandan Hutu rebels in eastern areas since a 1998-2003 war would not simply pack their bags and leave.
French UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, who is leading the Security Council delegation on what has become an annual trip around Africa's trouble spots, said, "It will not happen very soon."
He added, "It should not happen abruptly. There should be of course a transition, in which to pass from security re-establishment to the development of the country and that the UN could do something else than only sending troops for security purposes."
Ripert said Kabila wanted the peacekeeping mission to shift its priorities from security to development as Congo tries to rebuild an economy ruined by decades of kleptocracy and violence.
An estimated 5.4 million people have been killed as a result of conflict since 1998, mostly through hunger and disease.
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