SC/7476
 1 August 2002

PRESS STATEMENT ON DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO-RWANDA AGREEMENT, MIDDLE EAST BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

NEW YORK, 31 July (UN Headquarters) -- Following is yesterday's statement to the press on the Democratic Republic of the Congo-Rwanda agreement and the Middle East by Jeremy Greenstock (United Kingdom), President of the Security Council:

Democratic Republic of Congo-Rwanda Agreement

We had a brief discussion on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Governments of DRC and Rwanda this morning in South Africa, and I am authorized to give you the following points on behalf of the members of the Council. They welcomed the signing of the agreement today in Pretoria. They expressed their warm appreciation to the Government of South Africa for its role in facilitating the agreement. Members of the Council looked forward to examining the agreement in detail (we don't have a text of it in front of us) and hearing the considered view of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the mission of the United Nations in the Congo in due course. I understand that a briefing on that is likely to be scheduled early next week by the incoming American presidency. Members of the Council called on the Government of Rwanda and the DRC, and as relevant the other Lusaka parties, to hold early detailed discussion with the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) on the practical implementation of the agreement. There is a lot of work there for the United Nations to do, but a lot of discussion is needed to find out exactly what this is. So that's another good development today.

Middle East

We also had a brief discussion on the Middle East. The text of the Arab Group remains on the table. We were not able this afternoon to reach consensus on that text. Discussions continue in informal consultations and that text remains on the table. So that was the one subject this afternoon that we did not reach any conclusion on.

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