Decision Relating to the Situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo

DECISION ON THE SITUATION IN THE DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report;

2. REITERATES ITS SUPPORT for the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement as the only negotiated framework accepted by all the Parties for arriving at a solution to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and guaranteeing respect for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the DRC;

3. WELCOMES the unreserved readiness of the Parties to implement the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement as expressed in the Communique of the Third Summit of the signatory Parties held in Lusaka on 15 February, 2001, and the adoption of the Resolution 1341 (2001) of 22 February 2001 by the United Nations Security Council;

4. COMMENDS in particular President Joseph Kabila for his commitment to the implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement, especially resumption of the process of the Inter­Congolese National Dialogue;

5. NOTES WITH SATISFACTION that the Parties have, generally, respected the ceasefire and implemented the plans and sub-plans for disengagement and redeployment of forces and URGES the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) to complete without delay, its redeployment and disengagement to new defensive positions as defined in the Harare sub-plans, in accordance with Security Council Resolutions 1341 and 1355 and the commitment it made, particularly at the 11^th session of the Political Committee held in Lusaka, Zambia, on 21 - 22 May, 2001;

6. EXPRESSES CONCERN at reported military operations in Kivu and incursions by armed groups into Rwanda and Burundi and CALLS UPON all the parties to discouraged such incursions;

7. WELCOMES the adoption by the Political Committee, of the plans for disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, repatriation and resettlement of the armed groups, and for the orderly withdrawal of all foreign forces from the DRC;

8. EXPRESSES SATISFACTION AT the bilateral contacts among the countries signatories to the Lusaka Peace Agreement, ENCOURAGES them to pursue these contacts with a view to creating the conducive environment for the implementation of this Agreement, and URGES the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) to demilitarize the city of Kisangi and its surrounding areas without delay, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolutions 1304 and 1355;

9. NOTES WITH SATISFACTION the adoption by the Security Council of Resolution 1355 (2001) of 15 June 2001 which, among other things, extended the mandate of MONUC up to 15 June 2002 and reiterated the authorization it gave in its resolution 1292 (2000) for the deployment of a MONUC military contingent with a strength of up to 5537 men;

10. APPEALS to the Security Council to take into account, when designing and planning the third phase of the deployment of MONUC, of the need to guarantee the stability and security of the DRC after the withdrawal of foreign troops;

11. EXPRESSES ITS SUPPORT for the co-location of the Joint Military Commission (JMC) with MONUC and CALLS ON the Parties to reach an agreement in this regard as quickly as possible;

12. COMMENDS the efforts deployed by the Facilitator, Sir Ketumile Masire, to prepare the Inter-Congolese Dialogue which culminated in the signing by the Congolese Parties in Lusaka on 4 May 2001 of a Declaration of Fundamental Principles for the Conduct of the Dialogue;

13. WELCOMES the announcement made by the Facilitator regarding the organization of a preparatory meeting to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue slated for 16 July 2001;

14. APPEALS to all the Congolese Parties to co-operate fully with the Facilitator and participate in the national dialogue in a spirit of tolerance and compromise;

15. APPEALS ONCE MORE to OAU Member States and the International Community as a whole to continue to lend their support to the peace process in the DRC, particularly the activities of the JMC and the Inter-Congolese National Dialogue;

16. TAKES NOTE of the report of the United Nations Experts Group on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other riches of the DRC, as well as of the reactions of the States and other players implicated in the report which should be completed with an addendum;

17. APPEALS to the United Nations to speed up the investigations on the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the DRC so as to draw the final conclusions and take appropriate course of action;

18. REQUESTS importing countries, while waiting for the completion of the investigation by the group of experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the DRC, to set up appropriate mechanisms to identify the origin of these products with a view to limiting their transactions;

19. EXPRESSES GRAVE CONCERN at the humanitarian situation and the repeated violations of the international humanitarian law perpetrated in the DRC, ALSO APPEALS to all Member States as well as the International Community as a whole to step up their assistance to the war-affected populations, and EXHORTS the Parties to respect the International Humanitarian Law.