DR Congo: top UN envoy misquoted by rebel leader in media report

Special Envoy and former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo

10 January 2009 – The top United Nations envoy leading peace talks in the war-ravaged eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today denied remarks attributed to him in an article published yesterday by the Reuters news agency.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon''s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Olusegun Obasanjo, is tasked with facilitating the talks between the Government and the mainly Tutsi rebel militia (CNDP), aimed at ending the on-going conflict which has uprooted an estimated 250,000 people since August mainly in the North Kivu province.

In an interview published by Reuters on Friday, renegade general Laurent Nkunda was quoted as saying that the Special Envoy stated, “MONUC [the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC] was wrong” to dismiss CNDP allegations of Government forces redeploying in UN-monitored buffer zones set up to avoid fresh conflict.

Mr. Obasanjo stressed that “he did not express such an opinion,” in a press release issued by his spokesperson today.

In an earlier press statement on 20 December, he noted that “following investigations, the CNDP''s allegations proved to be without foundation. The Special Envoy of the Secretary-General stands by his statement,” his spokesperson added.

The Special Envoy also reiterated his full confidence in MONUC and underscored the positive role the mission is playing in the DRC.