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UN Great Lakes envoy calls for support to "fragile" region

Xinhua, November 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Said Djinnit, the special envoy of the UN secretary-general for the Great Lakes, on Wednesday called for more international support to the "fragile" region in the world, saying that outstanding challenges remained in the region, including the continued presence and activities of negative forces in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Support to the region, from Burundi to the Central African Republic, will be crucial as developments, including challenges related to elections and negative forces, continue to highlight its fragility, he said while briefing the UN Security Council on the current situation in the Great Lakes.

Meanwhile, Djinnit also noted some progress in the cooperation between the Congolese Army and the UN Mission in the country (MONUSCO), as well as in strengthening judicial cooperation in the region and investigating and prosecuting cases of violations of human rights.

However, the UN envoy also underlined the potential of the presence in eastern DRC of elements of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO) to further exacerbate existing tensions.

More than 1 million people, including some 25,000 internally displaced persons, are in need of assistance in Burundi, the UN said early this year, adding that some 250,000 Burundian refugees are being hosted in the DRC, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The Great Lakes Region, encompassing Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, northeastern DRC, and northwestern Kenya and Tanzania, has witnessed some of the direct conflicts on the African continent, rooted in longstanding tensions over ethnicity and citizenship, grievances over access to resources, including land and minerals, the UN said. Enditem