The United States on Sunday called on Democratic Republic of Congo’s neighbors to stop backing rebel groups in the country after the signing of a major peace accord.
US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, welcomed the accord signed earlier in Addis Ababa and said DR Congo and other countries must now work to end the killings, rapes and abuses on a “horrific scale” that have stricken the region for the past two decades.
Rice said DR Congo must seize on the UN-brokered accord signed by 11 African countries “to uphold its commitments to an extension of state authority in the east, to security sector reform, and to improved governance.
“It is equally imperative that the DRC’s neighbors respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity by preventing external support to armed groups, which is a violation of international obligations,” Rice added in a statement.
Rice said the regional nations must also “address collectively the egregious use of sexual violence as a tactic of war, impunity for human rights abusers, the illegal exploitation of minerals, the prevention of further population displacements, and land issues.”
The presidents of DR Congo, South Africa, Mozambique, Rwanda, Congo and Tanzania signed the accord along with envoys from Uganda, Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic and Zambia.
The accord calls for regional nations to refrain from interfering in each other’s affairs and aims to encourage the reform of DR Congo’s weak institutions. UN leader Ban Ki-moon pressed for the accord after new strife hit eastern DR Congo last year with an uprising by the M23 rebel group.
According to UN experts, Rwanda and Uganda backed the rebels who have seized a chunk of territory in Congo’s North Kivu province, just across the border from Rwanda.
Rice applauded the “leadership” of presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and DR Congo’s Joseph Kabila in “advancing the peace process.”
US says DR Congo neighbors must stop interfering
