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STORY: UN / GREAT LAKES REGION
TRT: 04:12
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / FRENCH / PORTUGUESE / NATS
DATELINE: 24 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters
24 APRIL 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Wide shot, Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region Xia Huang addressing Council
4. SOUNDBITE (French) Xia Huang, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes Region:
“Tensions between the DRC and Rwanda persist, and indeed have even exacerbated with repeated clashes between the Mouvement du 23 Mars - the M23 - and the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I remain troubled by the seriousness of the situation characterized in particular by an intensification of the conflict and a worrisome deterioration in the humanitarian situation in the east of the DRC.”
5. Wide shot, Council
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Xia Huang, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes Region:
“Tensions between Burundi and Rwanda, which are closely linked to the situation in the east of the DRC are further worsening this worrisome situation and compromising significant progress which had been made since 2020 in the relations between these two countries.”
7. Wide shot, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Xia Huang, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes Region:
“The persistence of the conflicts in the region are ever more compelling us to pursue efforts which will allow us to resolve the root causes in a lasting way. And this is what lies behind the current efforts being deployed to revitalize the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement.”
9. Wide shot, Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Urgent steps must be taken to resolve the conflict and avoid further deterioration of the situation in DRC and across the region. After so many years, people in DRC and in the Great Lakes region, deserve the opportunity to live in peace and to build the safe, secure, and prosperous lives that their richly abundant region promises.”
11. Wide shot, Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ernest Rwamucyo, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Rwanda:
“The fact that the genocidal FDLR and its splinter groups is embedded with DRC army, the FARDC, which arms and provides them with military, logistical, financial, and political support is of serious concern to Rwanda. This is because FDLR causes a direct and existential threat to Rwanda’s security and territorial integrity.”
13. Wide shot, DRC Ambassador Zénon Mukongo Ngay, addressing Council
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Zénon Mukongo Ngay, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC):
“This situation has exacted a high human price, 15 million deaths, and it is the work of a neighbouring country, Rwanda, whose intoxicating obsession with the abundant Strategic Resources lying beneath the soil of my country have led to lose all sense of reason. This neighbouring country is persisting and continuing its criminal enterprise to procure colossal economic benefits.”
15. Wide shot, Dominican Republic’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Roberto Álvarez Gil addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Esmeralda Mendonça, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Angola:
“The Republic of Angola is very concerned about the persistent instability in the Great Lakes region, particularly the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC since December 2023. The increasing of military actions by M23, including occupation of new areas in Congolese territory, the resumption of attacks against civilian populations, and the violation of human rights, constitute a serious and flagrant violation of the Luanda and Nairobi processes.”
17. Wide shot, end of Council session
Briefing the Security Council on the situation in the Great Lakes region today (24 Apr), the Special Envoy for the region, Huang Xia, told Council members that he continues to be concerned by the intensification of conflict as well as by the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Xia said, “tensions between the DRC and Rwanda persist, and indeed have even exacerbated with repeated clashes between the Mouvement du 23 Mars - the M23 - and the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
In addition, he said, “tensions between Burundi and Rwanda, which are closely linked to the situation in the east of the DRC are further worsening this worrisome situation and compromising significant progress which had been made since 2020 in the relations between these two countries.”
The Special Envoy told the Council that “the persistence of the conflicts in the region are ever more compelling us to pursue efforts which will allow us to resolve the root causes in a lasting way. And this is what lies behind the current efforts being deployed to revitalize the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement.”
He called for urgent efforts to appease tensions, and for dialogue and he encouraged the countries of the region to fully engage in efforts to revitalize and fully implement the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the region.
Also speaking at the Council, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya said, “urgent steps must be taken to resolve the conflict and avoid further deterioration of the situation in DRC and across the region,” as the humanitarian operation is dangerously overstretched.
People in DRC and in the Great Lakes region, she said, “deserve the opportunity to live in peace and to build the safe, secure and prosperous lives that their richly abundant region promises.”
Rwanda’s Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo told the Council that the fact that the “genocidal” Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda, (FDLR) and its splinter groups “is embedded with DRC army, the FARDC, which arms and provides them with military, logistical, financial, and political support is of serious concern to Rwanda.
Rwamucyo said the FDLR “causes a direct and existential threat to Rwanda’s security and territorial integrity.”
DRC Ambassador Zénon Mukongo Ngay, for his part said, “this situation has exacted a high human price, 15 million deaths, and it is the work of a neighbouring country, Rwanda, whose intoxicating obsession with the abundant Strategic Resources lying beneath the soil of my country have led to lose all sense of reason.”
This neighbouring country, he said, “is persisting and continuing its criminal enterprise to procure colossal economic benefits.”
15. Wide shot, Angola’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Esmeralda Mendonça addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Esmeralda Mendonça, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Angola:
“The Republic of Angola is very concerned about the persistent instability in the Great Lakes region, particularly the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC since December 2023. The increasing of military actions by M23, including occupation of new areas in Congolese territory, the resumption of attacks against civilian populations, and the violation of human rights, constitute a serious and flagrant violation of the Luanda and Nairobi processes.”
To conclude, Angola’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Esmeralda Mendonça said, “the Republic of Angola is very concerned about the persistent instability in the Great Lakes region, particularly the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC since December 2023. The increasing of military actions by M23, including occupation of new areas in Congolese territory, the resumption of attacks against civilian populations, and the violation of human rights, constitute a serious and flagrant violation of the Luanda and Nairobi processes.”
The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) today reported that in response to an attack by CODECO members in Ituri province, in which two civilians were injured yesterday, they have established a Mobile Operating Base in Tche, which is southeast of Djugu. Peacekeepers continue to conduct patrols in the area to prevent further attacks and protect civilians.
