YouSaid · the spoken record

Mwamba Kapanga

lines on the record: 36
first: 1999-09-30
most recent: 2000-05-17
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that from the United Nations and the Security Council, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expecting, first, the deployment, as soon as possible, of phase II of MONUC, in order to establish conditions conducive to the withdrawal of the occupying forces; secondly, the establishment of an expert group to study the question of the illegal exploitation of the natural and other resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; thirdly, the early holding of the inter-Congolese dialogue; and fourthly, the effective implementation of the Lusaka Agreement. My Government wishes to assure the Council of its full and total cooperation, so that the process begun in Lusaka can be successfully concluded. The meeting was suspended at 1.15pm.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“Each country must bear full responsibility for its people, deal with its own contradictions and refrain from placing on others the burden of its own inability to manage its contradictions. The international community has a moral obligation to assist us in developing our capabilities to resolve our problems.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“If all the countries of the region, assisted by the United Nations and the international community, grasp the complexities that have been at the foundation of the aggression and demonstrate their readiness to make sincere efforts, the problems that we are facing should ultimately be settled. We must have the courage to identify dispassionately the specific problems facing our countries and to take, within the framework of a global approach, reliable measures aimed at national reconciliation, power-sharing, the establishment of republican armies, the establishment or revitalization of the process of democratization, and development. It is in this spirit that the Democratic Republic of the Congo supports the holding of an international conference on peace, stability, security and development in the Great Lakes region.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“Since the outset of the aggression of which it has been a victim, my country has continued to reaffirm that the restoration of peace will allow for the establishment of a favourable climate for the implementation of the programme of national reconstruction and development that the people of the Congo so keenly desire. The aggression has put in jeopardy for a long time to come the development and well-being of the present and future generations of all countries of the Great Lakes region. All of our countries are now faced with the task of consolidating peace domestically and of economic reconstruction. Renewing good-neighbourly relations is a prerequisite of vital and primary importance.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“The President of the Republic has rightly emphasized that the major objective of that dialogue continues to be the participation of the Congolese people at those meetings, thus allowing it to express itself freely on its future and also to choose or to determine the bodies that will govern the future of the Republic. From their talks, both with the Government and with representatives of civil society, religious groups and political parties, the members of the Council's mission doubtless will have understood that an unequivocal consensus is emerging in favour of holding these meetings as soon as possible.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“This is why my Government supports the proposal made to the Security Council by the Secretary-General to establish a group of experts, in accordance with paragraph 17 of resolution 1291 (2000), and asks that the Security Council follow up the Secretary-General's proposal. My Government calls upon the Security Council to make this expert group effectively operational as quickly as possible in order to put an end to such activities, which are obviously accompanied by the destruction, the dismantling and the illegal transfer to the aggressor countries of economic, environmental and industrial infrastructure from the occupied provinces. The inter-Congolese dialogue is one of the provisions of the Lusaka Agreement.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“My Government urgently demands that the United Nations insist that the Governments of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, the Goma and Bunia factions of the Congolese Rally for Democracy and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo immediately halt all attacks aimed at civilian populations. The United Nations must carry out investigations to establish the facts and begin legal proceedings against the perpetrators of these crimes. As a result of armed aggression, my country has become the land of choice for illicit activities of all types. The United Nations has already shown itself to be seriously concerned by the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the forces of aggression. This practice fuels their war effort, thus perpetuating the destitution of the Congolese people.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“The Congolese Government and people are ready to receive them in the best tradition of African hospitality. Aside from stopping the fighting, the United Nations should also work at restoring the most fundamental rights of the Congolese population, as it is authorized to do by resolution 1291 (2000) of 24 February of this year, primarily in paragraphs 12 through 15. The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, based in New York, has just published a damning report on the brutal acts committed on occupied Congolese territory by the aggressors, in violation of the principles of human rights and of international humanitarian law.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“The United Nations should therefore take advantage of this respite to proceed to the rapid deployment of phase II of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). Mr. Laurent-Desire Kabila, President of the Republic, assured the members of the Council's mission that the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo would not create any obstacle to such deployment. The head of State also reiterated the readiness of the Government to cooperate fully with MONUC. My delegation would like to take this opportunity to express its heartfelt thanks to all of those countries that have made a substantive contribution to MONUC and would like to say to them that their sons and daughters, who are committed to the cause of peace for my country, are welcome in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a transnational war involving primarily States and Governments that are sensitive to friendly and other forms of pressure to restore peace in the region. This aspect distinguishes this situation from the situation in Sierra Leone. My delegation thus shares the belief of the members of the Council's mission that the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has its own special characteristics, that the peacekeeping operation must be judged on its own merits and that the situation in Sierra Leone should in no way obscure the responsibility of the leaders of the region and the international community in respect of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, nor their capacity to make a real difference in my country.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“It is certainly regrettable that the armies of Uganda and Rwanda have once again engaged in fierce fighting in the city of Kisangani. The civilian population of Kisangani, which, for an entire year has been the sacrificial victim of these acts of war, is the least of the concerns of these two countries for which Congolese lives are only a tool to achieve their mercantile goals. It is certainly equally deplorable that Uganda and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo are stepping up their skirmishes in the Equateur Province. The most recent instance was the fighting that took place for control of the city of Bomongo on the border with the neighbouring Republic of the Congo. But it is also certain that all of these activities are not of a scope that can endanger the peace process initiated in Lusaka.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“My delegation would like very sincerely to thank President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, for the organization of the Algiers summit of 30 April 2000 and for his continuing and tireless efforts to facilitate the rapid implementation of the Lusaka Agreement. The Algiers summit, in fact, made it possible to reaffirm the commitments undertaken during the meeting of the Political Committee held in Kampala, Uganda, from 6 to 8 April 2000, regarding a plan for disengagement and redeployment of forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in accordance with the Lusaka Agreement, as well as the decision to order a full cessation of hostilities to go into effect on 14 April. We must indeed recognize that until now the ceasefire has been respected for the most part.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“Through me, the Congolese people call on the international community to use all means available to put a final end to this war, of which it is ultimately the sole victim. My Government hopes that the United Nations will absorb a full understanding of the resolve and of the great need for peace and domestic and external peace of the Congolese nation as a whole. My Government calls on the international community to become further involved in a sincere and positive effort to bring the aggressors to sincere negotiations for peace and regional stability, in respect for the relevant provisions of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“Throughout the national territory of our country - from Mbandaka to Kisangani, from Goma to Bukavu, from Kindu to Mbuji-Mayi and from Lubumbashi to Bandundu, not to mention Kinshasa - children, fathers and mothers are calling for an end to the unspeakable suffering that has become their daily plight since the fateful day of 2 August 1998, when the horde of occupying forces from Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda swept unopposed through the Democratic Republic of the Congo like the angel of death, sowing misery and annihilation in their wake. My country has spent two years in a pitiless war, the senseless nature of which has frequently been denounced by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and its Secretary-General, Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“We are convinced that the report will make a great contribution to charting the road to peace and sustainable development for millions of Congolese men and women, who, like all the inhabitants of the other continents, seek only to live decently in peace. The members of the Council mission were able to witness firsthand the deep desire for peace of the Congolese people. The experience of Kananga speaks eloquently to this desire.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“Mr. Mwamba Kapanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (spoke in French): Allow me first of all to fulfil the pleasant duty of extending to you, Sir, on behalf of my delegation and in my personal capacity, my warm and sincere congratulations on your accession to the presidency of the Security Council. I also wish to thank your predecessor, the Permanent Representative of Canada, and to convey our gratitude and congratulations to him on his success as President of the Council last month. My delegation also wishes sincerely to congratulate Ambassador Holbrooke and the members of the Security Council mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the report contained in document S/2000/416.”
2000-05-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4143 (2000) · source
“My country has not forgotten that it was Argentina, along with other members of the Security Council, that in 1960 adopted resolution 145 (1960), acting on the Congolese Government's request for assistance from the United Nations in order to confront the aggression of which it was already an innocent victim, and in this manner made it possible to preserve the integrity of the young republic that had just attained national independence and sovereignty on 30 June of that year. The Security Council had launched an appeal at the time to all States to abstain from any activity that could undermine the political independence of the country. That appeal was to be renewed on several occasions over time by the Council as well as by the General Assembly. Allow me, at this stage, to pay tribute jointly to two”
2000-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4104 (2000) · source
“Mr. Mwamba Kapanga (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (spoke in French): The Security Council has unanimously adopted the resolution on the second phase of the deployment of the United Nations Organization Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). My delegation is all the more gratified that this decision, which is a significant step towards achieving peace, has been taken under the presidency of the representative of a friendly country, Argentina, with which my country has entertained long-standing and excellent relations marked by the seal of reciprocal trust and appreciation.”
2000-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4104 (2000) · source
“My delegation should like to conclude by saying quite simply that a Congolese national is no different from a national of Kosovo or East Timor. He has a head, eyes, arms, legs, hair. Like the national of Kosovo or East Timor, the Congolese national is a human being. He, too, has the right to life; he, too, has the right to expect his fundamental rights to be respected. The colour of his skin does not make him a sub-human being. When the international community feels that certain reprehensible acts are unacceptable in this waning century, it is obliged and duty-bound to prevent them from being committed and perpetuated in my country.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“15'- 14) My Government makes a solemn and emotional appeal to the entire international community in general, and to the Security Council in particular, inviting them to become fully involved in the immediate implementation of the Lusaka Agreement so as to put an end to the untold suffering of my people. The Security Council must, first, exert firm political pressure on the aggressors to respect the ceasefire and to compel them to withdraw their troops and arms from Congolese territory and to go home; secondly, proceed to the rapid and massive deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and thirdly, assist in the rapid organization and successful convening of inter- Congolese political negotiations.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“My delegation wishes to reiterate the words of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who writes in his report S/1999/790: "The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has inflicted further terrible suffering on a country already heavily burdened with poverty and neglect. An estimated 700,000 persons are displaced within the country, in addition to some 300,000 refugees located on its territory... The conflict has been characterized by appalling, widespread and systematic human rights violations, including mass killings, ethnic cleansing, rape and the destruction of property... The international community and the United Nations should therefore do everything in their power to assist the Congolese Government, parties and people, as well as the other Governments involved, in achieving a peaceful solution." (S/J 999/790, paras.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“They have the important and noble task of sounding the alarm to wake the United Nations from its stupor, so that the goal of peace and harmony does not remain for our peoples, nations and countries a mere dream, which, as everyone knows, is the guardian of sleep. By Security Council resolution 1234 (1999), unanimously adopted on 9 April 1999, the United Nations clearly established that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a victim of its neighbours' aggression. Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are thus in clear violation of the United Nations Charter, which every Member is called on to respect and defend. The Government of my country takes note of Security Council resolution 1258 (1999) of 6 August 1999.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“Prominent world figures, such as the President of the French Republic, Mr. Jacques Chirac, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Sadako Ogata, have recently and on various occasions raised this issue in order to draw the international community's attention to this glaring and unbearable injustice. Thus, my delegation reaches out to such Africans as the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary- General to tell them that the peoples, nations and countries of Africa cannot understand how, under their shared mandate, Africa remains the unbeloved wallflower of the Security Council with respect to the settlement of armed conflicts.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“It discharges its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security by entrusting it to the OAU, which must both come up with the necessary resources and define the missions of hypothetical buffer forces. Finally, the Council is aware that, in Europe, Asia or the Middle East the deployment of United Nations forces ends only after a political solution imposes on the warring parties respect for the relevant provision of the Charter of the United Nations. In Africa, on the other hand, the tragedies in Somalia and Angola - to mention only those two - show that the deployment and hasty withdrawal of United Nations forces allows situations to worsen and exacerbates conflicts. In describing this situation, far be it from my delegation to cast aspersions on our world Organization.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“There is no need to point out the speed with which decisions have been taken to intervene to end conflicts in Europe, Asia or the Middle East; the dazzling speed at which enormous financial, material and human resources are assembled; and the precision with which the missions of the forces are defined, within the framework of Chapter VII of the Charter. How can we not note strongly and with indignation that when it is a question of an African conflict the Security Council cannot decide, or does so haltingly? It often cites budgetary reasons for not being able to mobilize the necessary financial, material and human resources.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“The United Nations and the OAU - which are parties to the Agreement, and whose charters are obviously being violated - making the slightest protest, even though, by resolutions 1234 (1999) and 1258 (1999), the Security Council reaffirmed the need to respect the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. How can we explain to our African populations this new source of despair, involving their being daily discriminated against and marginalized by international institutions, in political, humanitarian, economic and military interventions? The Council knows full well the costs to the international community of the humanitarian intervention to aid European refugees, from Bosnia and Kosovo, with those incurred to help African refugees, from Somalia, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Angola or the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“Despite the signing of the Lusaka Agreement by all the parties, the Rwandans and Ugandans continue to mass troops, military equipment and heavy weapons around the mining towns of our country, such as Mbuji-Mayi, Beni and Butembo. They continue to appoint governors of provinces. They even raise customs barriers within provinces they occupy, link these provinces and their cities, establish and use air connections, and so forth, thus carrying out their wicked intention of partitioning our territory. All these activities are taking place under the eyes and within earshot of the international community.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“The inter-Congolese national dialogue has still not begun, and the question of choosing facilitators has yet to be resolved, since the aggressors have yet to follow up on my Government's proposals. Nor has any withdrawal of troops to defensive positions been observed. Defying the truce called for by the Secretary-General for the national vaccination days Rwandan and Ugandan troops carried out a fratricidal war on our territory, in Kisangani. A great deal of infrastructure was completely destroyed and 3 million doses of polio and smallpox vaccine were lost, threatening our children with lifelong disabilities. But the Democratic Republic of the Congo condemns above all the death of more than a hundred innocent Congolese victims in Kisangani. The town will for ever mourn their deaths.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“Due to an alleged dispute over the leadership of the so-called rebels, we had to wait 51 days - until 31 August 1999 - for them to sign the Agreement with the support of their sponsors, since Presidents Museveni of Uganda and President Bizimungu of Rwanda, in person, announced the news of the signing to their peers in SADC, meeting at the SADC summit in Maputo, Mozambique. Since then nothing stipulated in the Agreement has been implemented. Rather, the aggressors are using the Agreement as an excuse to prolong indefinitely their presence on our territory. The Joint Military Commission remains a dead letter, despite the appointment of its Chairman, because the so-called rebels have still not chosen their representatives and the necessary funds have yet to be released.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“Until 2 August 1998 the Congolese armed forces were led by senior Rwandan officers, who were incapable of flushing out the least of the Interahamwe. Since then the Rwandans have occupied the north-eastern part of our territory, through which the Interahamwe have supposedly passed in order to attack Rwanda. Thus far the Rwandans have not produced a single Interahamwe militia member, dead or alive. To return to the Lusaka Agreement, I would like to draw the Council's attention to the fact that, as during the negotiations, immediately after the signing of the Agreement the aggressors resumed their diversionary tactics in order to delay its implementation as long as possible.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“The Agreement also urges the countries of origin of the members of these armed groups to commit themselves to taking all the necessary steps to facilitate their repatriation. The assistance of the United Nations in this process is very much needed. In giving such assistance, the world Organization would help to prevent aggressor countries from finding a new pretext to attack the Democratic Republic of the Congo again once their troops have been withdrawn from Congolese territory and their withdrawal has been verified. I categorically deny the false allegations made here and the nonsense spoken by the Rwandan delegation, to the effect that the Interahamwe militias had been integrated into the Congolese armed forces.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“Practical modalities and a specific timetable for implementation of the Agreement are annexed to it and form an integral part of it. The Democratic Republic of the Congo attaches particular importance to the implementation and success of the Lusaka Agreement, which states the need to find solutions to the security concerns of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as those of its neighbours. This concern has already been expressed by my Government by organizing in May 1998 the conference on solidarity and development in the Great Lakes region, a conference that was unfortunately sabotaged by those now attacking us. My Government reaffirmed this concern within the framework of the Lusaka Agreement, in accepting the establishment of a mechanism to disarm militias and armed groups found in our territory.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“This is why it has attended all the meetings organized in Africa and elsewhere in the world to discuss a negotiated end to it. The Rwandan and Ugandan aggressors, however, were conspicuous by their absence at most of these meetings, or used delaying tactics to prolong their occupation of our territory. As you know, Mr. President, on 10 July 1999, following very difficult negotiations conducted by President Chiluba under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Organization of African Unity, the heads of State of the six countries involved in this war of aggression signed in Lusaka, Zambia, the Ceasefire Agreement for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, commonly called the Lusaka Agreement.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“This aggression is forcing enormous sacrifices on the innocent people of my country, whether they reside in free areas or in occupied provinces. My delegation does not wish here to go back over this shameful, senseless war of aggression, whose notorious history is known to you all. The suffering and destitution that it is imposing on our people, already bruised by three decades of civil chaos and poverty, should provoke universal revulsion and lead the international community to lend all its weight to putting an end to this quickly: the credibility of the United Nations depends on it. Although we are the victim of this unjustified aggression, from the very beginning of this war the Democratic Republic of the Congo has nevertheless sought peace.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“The Democratic Republic of the Congo also notes the wish expressed by various speakers on the necessary cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which must take root and be improved if we want to deal effectively and in a concerted manner with the many security problems that impose enormous and undeserved suffering on the African States. As the head of our delegation, Mr. Yerodia Abdoulaye Ndombasi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said in his statement yesterday in the general debate of the General Assembly at its fifty- fourth session, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing an armed aggression since 2 August 1998 described by the Secretary-General of OAU as pointless and senseless.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source
“The current meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Africa is an initiative of the Government and of the representative of the Netherlands, President of the Council for the month of September. Allow me, first of all, to express my delegation's warmest congratulations and our gratitude for this praiseworthy initiative. Like the others who have spoken before me, my delegation would like to tell the Secretary-General that it greatly appreciates the report (S/ 1999/ 1008) that he presented on the situation in Africa, which sheds much- awaited light on the subject of our statements here.”
1999-09-30 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4049Resumption3 (1999) · source