Salim urges world to help Kabila restore peace

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim has called on the world community to back President Joseph Kabila's efforts to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the official Sunday News reported Sunday.
The OAU would continue pursuing peace in the mineral-rich country by helping parties to the conflict to reach a consensus, the paper quoted Salim as saying.

"President Kabila has clearly demonstrated his disposition to work seriously with former Botswana President Ketumile Masire to find a solution to the crisis," he said.

"I think Kabila needs the support of the international community and I believe all the parties involved in the war in the Congo will be better served if they all work together for the implementation of the Lusaka Accord," he said.

"We (the OAU) are against any attempts at dismembering that country. We are for the sovereignty of that country. And we have made that abundantly clear from the very beginning of the crisis," he added.

The war in the DR Congo has sucked in armed forces of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, which are backing the country's troops to repel rebel forces propped up by Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. The rebels and their backers have been accused of invading, occupying and plundering natural resources from the central African State.

A recent UN Security Council condemned Uganda for plundering the DRC's natural resources such as diamonds, gold and other minerals. The report added that the war had also decimated the country's wildlife, including thousands of elephants and other endangered species.

Copyright =A9 2001 Panafrican News Agency. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).