New York – Angola has expressed concern about the advance of the M23 in North Kivu, after violent clashes with units of the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and the capture of new localities by this movement.
The position was expressed by the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Angola to the UN in New York, João Gimolieca, while speaking at the meeting of the 1533 Sanctions Committee on the Democratic Republic of Congo, held Thursday.
According to a press release from the Permanent Mission of Angola to the United Nations, the diplomat said that the clashes had already killed and injured several civilians, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees in neighboring countries, further aggravating the humanitarian situation.
Therefore, Angola strongly condemns the series of M23 attacks and its advances that undermine security and stability in the region, demanding the immediate cessation of hostilities and any further advances, as well as its withdrawal from all occupied areas.
He said that as current President of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, Angola also remains concerned about the escalation of tension in relations between the DRC and Rwanda, as well as the risk potential for regionalisation of the conflict.
However, he said that the country was making efforts to find a solution to the normalization of political and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He also specified that, in order to reduce the impact of the humanitarian situation in the DRC, Angola sent last November, to the city of Goma, about 30 and a half tons of various food products, which served as support and humanitarian assistance to displaced populations.
He noted that this support is a response from President João Lourenço to the request of his DRC counterpart, Félix Tshissekedi, following the mini-summit for peace and security in the eastern region of the DRC, held in Luanda. .
The diplomat reiterated that Angola will continue to support and encourage all cooperation efforts between regional and sub-regional organizations.
In addition to Angola, representatives from the DRC, Rwanda, Gabon, Burundi, South Sudan, France, Belgium, China, Ghana, the United States of America and the Albania also took part in the meeting.
Source: Angola Press News Agency