Luanda- The United Nations (UN) expressed Saturday "full" support for the efforts of the President of the Republic João Lourenço aimed at promoting peace in the Great Lakes Region.
During the last AU Summit, the President João Lourenço was designated “Champion/Promoter for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa”, due to his engagement in the search for increasingly participatory and inclusive forms of governance that contribute to the dissemination of a national culture of peace, as well as peace on the continent, mainly under the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
The Secretary-General's spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric said that the UN also welcome the appointment of the President of Angola, João Lourenço, by the African Union to ease tensions between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
He added that UN fully supports these political efforts.
According to Stephane Dujarric, the UN welcomes and supports the ongoing national and regional political efforts to monitor the disarmament of armed groups.
In a note sent to the correspondents accredited at the organisation's headquarters, the senior UN official stressed in New York that MONUSCO was also working closely with the Office of the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region to promote non-military measures for the disarmament of foreign armed groups.
Stephane Dujarric stated that the UN Secretary General is concerned about the deteriorating security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the increase in attacks against civilians by the Congo Development Cooperative (CODECO) and the M23, as well as the continued presence of other foreign armed groups.
He added that the world body was deeply concerned by reports of an increase in hate speech in the country against some specific communities, including in the context of the resurgence of the M23. Hate speech must be dealt with proactively," he stressed.
The UN reiterates its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC, calling on all armed groups to immediately end all forms of violence.
The UN also urges Congolese armed groups to participate unconditionally in the Programme for Disarmament, Demobilisation, Recovery and Stabilisation of the Community (P-DDRCS) and foreign armed groups to disarm immediately and return to their countries of origin.
