The latest round of UN-supported government-rebel political talks seeking to quell the violence engulfing the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continued on Thursday, with the co-chair reporting slow but steady progress.
Talks between the government and the mainly Tutsi group known as the National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP) began in December, and the substantive phase started on Wednesday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
Co-mediator Benjamin Mkapa, the former Tanzanian president who is representing the African Union (AU) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes (ICGLR), chaired the meeting. He said the parties have made steady, but slow, progress on substantive issues.
The escalating conflict between government forces (FARDC) and the CNDP has uprooted an estimated 250,000 people since late August on top of the 800,000 already displaced in the region, mainly in North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda and Uganda.
Olusegun Obasanjo, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy and former Nigerian president, is currently holding consultations, including the possibility of holding a meeting this month with leaders of the Great Lakes nations to update them on progress made so far and obstacles that remain in achieving peace between the government and CNDP.
Meanwhile, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a campaign to contain Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever, in the DRC's Kasai Occidental province.
It is estimated that 42 people, including at least 28 women and 14 children, are infected with Ebola. So far 13 people having died of complications related to the virus and 160 others are under observation.
WHO staff and other relief workers will visit all parts of the province to make people aware of Ebola.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article