Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU on the current situation in Province Orientale, DRC (LRA)
The EU takes note of the agreement between the DRC and Uganda to extend the joint military action against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which started on December 14.
The European Union (EU) takes note of the agreement between the DRC and Uganda to extend the joint military action against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which started on December 14. The EU is appalled by the brutal killing by the LRA of more then 800 Congolese civilians, including numerous women and children in Province Orientale, DRC. The EU urges the LRA to cease its attacks on civilians, disarm immediately and unconditionally.
The EU calls on the countries involved in the military operation against the LRA to protect the civilian population and to cooperate closely with the MONUC allowing it to fully implement its mandate in particular with respects to the protection of the population. The EU furthermore takes note of the large number of IDP's, some 160 000 people in the region as a consequence of the fighting and urges the countries to cooperate with humanitarian organisations to minimise suffering.
The EU recalls the obligation of all state parties to the Rome statute to fully cooperate with the ICC and contribute to the execution of the ICC arrest warrants issued, including those issued against the LRA leadership.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and Armenia align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
contact:
- Zuzana Opletalová , Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Tel.: +420 224 182 052; GSM: +420 724 034 154; E-mail: press@mzv.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:44
