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DR Congo: Letter from Rwanda to the UN Security Council (S/2003/149)

S/2003/149
Letter dated 4 February 2003 from the Chargé d'affaires, a.i. of Rwanda to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

I have the honour to request that you circulate the present letter as a reply of the Government of the Republic of Rwanda to the false allegations made by the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in his letter addressed to the President of the Security Council on 31 January 2003 (S/2003/134).

It was a clear indication of the failed State of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, through its own Ambassador Atoki Ileka, to draw the attention of the Security Council to the malicious and dirty propaganda that the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) were observed in Kanyabayonga in North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The baseless accusations should be verified in accordance with the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement (S/1999/815, annex) mainly if His Excellency the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of the Congo does not believe in the total withdrawal of RDF from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in October 2002 and at the same time doubts the report of the Third Party Verification Mechanism.

The total withdrawal of RDF was in conformity with the Pretoria Peace Agreement of 30 July 2003 (S/2002/914), signed between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Government of the Republic of Rwanda, and the current false accusations are part of the delaying tactics of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to implement that Agreement as well as its failure to put in place the all-inclusive transitional institutions in accordance with the Inter-Congolese Dialogue agreement.

The Government of the Republic of Rwanda calls upon the Security Council to exert its influence on the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to implement all the agreements it signed. Finally, the Government of the Republic of Rwanda firmly supports the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and condemns the alarming letter of the Permanent Representative of the Kinshasa Government to the United Nations.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Augustin Muvunyi
First Counsellor
Chargé d'affaires, a.i.