25/08/00

United Nations delay peacekeeping mission.

Cardinal Etsou: "I'm sad and disappointed"

Kinshasa (Fides) - General Secretary of the United Nations Organization Mr Koffi Annan, has decided to postpone the sending of UN mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo after the latest contrasting reports from Kinshasa. Cardinal Frederic Etsou Nzabi Bamungwabi, Archbishop of Kinshasa, is "disappointed and sad" by the events of the last few days.

The UN leader made this decision since President Kabila's August 24 statement authorizing the deployment of a UN peace-keeping contingent but at the same time denouncing the cease-fire agreement reached in July 1999 in Lusaka (Zambia) by the countries involved in the conflict. That cease fire served to allow the sending of UN monitoring mission MONUC.

These decisions come after heads of state and government members of the countries involved in the fighting in Congo, meeting again last week in Lusaka, failed to reach any substantial result.

"I am disappointed and sad- the Cardinal told Fides - we were confident that the Lusaka talks would succeed. I would have liked to have seen a decision for an end to hostilities, a total withdrawal of Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian troops from the eastern part of our country, to give the people of Congo themselves the chance to dialogue together to find a solution to the crisis with forgiveness and reconciliation.