I will make three points.<\/p>\n
First, the United Kingdom welcomes the positive momentum towards peace generated by the work of EAC-SADC and the AU, the signing of the Peace Agreement between DRC and Rwanda in Washington, and the Declaration of Principles between DRC and M23 in Doha.<\/p>\n
Second, the United Kingdom condemns the widespread killing of civilians by the Rwanda-backed M23 in Rutshuru territory as well as killings by ADF in Ituri province.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The scale of human rights abuses, including sexual violence, by armed groups in eastern DRC is deeply concerning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We call on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and to protect civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The parties must comply with the ceasefires to which they have committed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reported violations by both M23 and Wazalendo groups are deeply concerning, as is the rise in inflammatory rhetoric by both sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The UK urges the parties to show restraint, avoid further escalation, and engage constructively in the peace process.<\/p>\n
Third, President, the United Kingdom remains concerned by restrictions imposed on MONUSCO\u2019s freedom of movement by M23.\u00a0<\/p>\n
UN peacekeepers must be allowed to deliver the mandate agreed by this Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We welcome news that supplies of fuel and water are no longer being restricted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We also welcome that some of MONUSCO\u2019s necessary troop rotations have now taken place. This must be sustained.<\/p>\n
To conclude, the United Kingdom strongly supports all efforts towards peace in Eastern DRC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We commend the ongoing efforts of US, Qatari and AU mediators and facilitators.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We welcome the resumption of talks between DRC and M23.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The parties should now urgently and fully comply with the commitments they have made to a ceasefire and the protection of civilians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Security Council should remain seized of their progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The full implementation of these agreements is critical to delivering the sustainable peace and prosperity that the people of DRC deserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I will make three points. First, the United Kingdom welcomes the positive momentum towards peace generated by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-365101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115073459423353874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}