SC/8155
23 July 2004
Security Council Committee on Democratic Republic of Congo Clarifies Media Inaccuracies Regarding Expert Report
NEW YORK, 22 July (UN Headquarters) -- In accordance with paragraph 10 (d) of Security Council resolution 1533 (2004), the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), established by the same resolution, submitted its report to the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 9 July 2004. The report was issued yesterday, 21 July 2004, as an official document of the Security Council.
The Committee is still in the process of carefully considering the report and its recommendations, and the members of the Group of Experts has been available, throughout the Committee’s discussions, to provide comments on the report and to respond to questions raised by the members of the Committee. It is on the basis of these discussions that the Chairman of the Committee will present the Committee’s views on the report and its recommendations to the Security Council during consultations tentatively scheduled for 26 July 2004.
The Committee and the Group of Experts are both deeply concerned that a draft version of the Group’s report has entered the public domain before its official publication, and has been misquoted or misrepresented by a number of wire services and other media outlets.
The Group of Experts looks forward to interacting with the press as soon as its report has been considered by the Security Council.
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