Timetable Endorsed for Foreign Troop Withdrawal From DRCThe UN Security Council on Thursday demanded that the parties to the Lusaka Agreement fully implement disengagement and redeployment plans, urging them to prepare a schedule leading to the completion of the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).The council in a unanimously adopted resolution called on the parties to implement disengagement "without reservations" within the 14-day period from March 15, 2001 as stipulated in the Harare Agreement. It said they should adopt a precise withdrawal plan not later than March 15, 2001, in accordance with the Lusaka cease-fire agreement signed in July 1999. The council requested UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to report by April 15 on the progress of these efforts. It endorsed the updated concept of operations put forward recently by Annan to increase the force of the UN Mission in the DRC from the current 200 to 3,000 to oversee the disengagement process. It stressed that disengagement is a first step toward the full and definitive withdrawal of all foreign troops. The resolution was adopted after the council's two-day meeting with the political committee on the DRC, with the attendance of all parties concerned. The DRC's civil war began in August 1998. Five countries have been involved in it, with Rwanda and Uganda supporting rebel forces and Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia backing the government. Hopes for peace have been raised by recent pledges by Rwanda and Uganda to pull back their troops while DRC new president Joseph Kabila agreed to launch inter-Congolese dialogue. No major fighting has happened in the past five weeks. The war has displaced some 2 million people and the humanitarian crisis has undermined regional stability. |
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