Luanda - Angola moved out from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this Monday, its members of the Reinforced Ad Hoc Verification Mechanism (RAVM) and the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), in light of the worsening of the conflict in the city of Gomawhere where they were located.
Among them, 18 members of the RAVM and eight of the EJVM/ICGLR were removed, including four DRC citizens and two from the neighbouring Republic of Congo, for their safety, according to a press release from the Angolan Foreign Affairs Ministry to which ANGOP had access on Monday.
The aforementioned citizens were transported on an Angolan National Air Force (FAN) aircraft that landed in the early hours of Monday in the country's capital, Luanda.
Angola took this measure as acting president of the ICGLR and facilitator appointed by the African Union (AU) to mediate political-diplomatic and security investment between the DRC and Rwanda.
According to the statement, the act was carried out in agreement with the governments of DRC and Rwanda, which involved Angolan diplomatic missions accredited in these countries.
RAVM and EJVM/ICGLR were created to support the pacification process in Eastern DRC and integrate members from countries in the region, namely Angola, Burundi, DRC, Zambia, Central African Republic (CAR), Uganda, Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Rwanda.
FMA/DC/MRA/jmc
