KAMPALA, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The UN special envoy for the Great Lakes region has urged Uganda to mobilize the African Union (AU) and regional bodies in efforts to eliminate negative forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Said Djinnit, in a statement issued by Uganda's ministry of foreign affairs, on Tuesday made the call while meeting Sam Kutesa, Uganda's minister of foreign affairs.
Djinnit said the AU and regional bodies like the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and the Southern African Development Community should come together and propose solutions to wipe out the Allied Democratic Force (ADF) rebels and also repatriate the M23 fighters.
Kutesa said Uganda will cooperate but also called on the UN to coordinate the process of implementing the agreed-on position of mobilizing other countries to come on board.
The two officials agreed that negative forces in the region should be wiped out by February next year.
The meeting comes after another planned meeting between Uganda and DRC on a proposed joint operation to fight the ADF rebels holed up in eastern DRC.
Brig. Richard Karemire, Uganda's military spokesperson told Xinhua on Nov. 28 that the meeting was postponed to allow for more consultations.
ADF is a Ugandan rebel group causing mayhem in eastern DRC. The outfit in one of its recent deadly attacks killed eight UN peacekeepers and at least 12 DRC soldiers in North Kivu province.
The soldiers were killed during joint operations of the UN peacekeeping mission and DRC troops against the insurgents in Beni territory.
Several attacks by the ADF have forced thousands of Congolese to flee to neighboring Uganda.
