The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday applauded the recent agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda to work together against threats to peace and stability in the region, calling it “an important milestone towards the definitive settlement of the problem of illegal armed groups” operating in eastern DRC. Ambassador Marty Natalegawa of Indonesia, which holds the rotating Security Council presidency this month, read a statement calling on authorities in the DRC and Rwanda to fully implement the commitments they made in a joint communiqué signed in Nairobi on November 9. Council members thanked U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios for his role in facilitating the process and said they look forward to his continuing consultations with governments in the Great Lakes region of Africa and with the wider international community. “The Security Council recalls that the continued presence of illegal armed groups … is one of the root causes of conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and constitutes a threat to regional stability,” Natalegawa's presidential statement said. “The council reiterates its demand that these groups lay down their arms and engage voluntarily and without preconditions in their demobilization, repatriation, resettlement, and reintegration,” the statement said.
