United Nations Radio

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for urgent action to contain the crisis created by the upsurge in fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At Friday's UN-backed summit on resolving the situation in the DRC, which met in Nairobi, the Secretary-General told African leaders that there can be no military solution to the crisis in the Congo.

He called for concrete steps on the ground to address the threat posed by illegal armed groups in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Secretary-General said there is need to end the conflict in that region and prevent it from spilling over into the wider sub-region.

He said this requires leaders of the sub-region to use their influence, leverage and moral authority to urge Laurent Nkunda to desist from resuming military offensives and to prevent any support that would enable his movement to do so.

Diane Bailey, United Nations

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