VZCZCXRO7557
PP RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1332 2341355
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221355Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4652
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS KINSHASA 001332
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ASEC CASC KPKO CG
SUBJECT: SITREP 17: SECOND MONUC PRESS RELEASE CALLS FOR
KABILA-BEMBA MEETING
REF: KINSHASA 1329
MONUC followed its earlier exhortation today for a cessation of
hostilities (reftel) with another press release calling on the
belligerents to meet. This is Embassy's unofficial translation:
MONUC Calls on Two Presidential Election Candidates to Meet
Kinshasa, 22 August 2006. - "It is imperative for clashes to stop
immediately and for the two presidential election candidates to meet
urgently for the good of the democratic process and above all for
the Congolese people, who have already suffered too much from armed
conflict." Today, Mr. William Lacy Swing, Special Representative of
the Secretary General of the United Nations in Democratic Republic
of Congo, made this declaration before meeting with President Kabila
late this morning, accompanied by member ambassadors of the
International Committee to Accompany the Transition (CIAT).
As for Vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, he is under the protection
of MONUC, which deployed a sizeable security force around his
residence. In an effort to restore peace in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, MONUC and EUFOR positioned themselves between the
belligerents and call for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of
forces engaged in the fighting.
The international community, for whom re-establishing peace and
order in Kinshasa is priority, is redoubling its efforts to find a
political solution to the current crisis, in the highest interest of
the Congo.
MEECE