Vietnam’s representative to the UNSC onNovember 17 urged UN Missions to the Great Lakes region to reinforcecoordination to prioritise the protection of civilians following theLRA (Lord’s Resistance Army)’s attacks on local population.

At the UN Security Council’s consultancy session on the situation inthe Great Lakes region, Ambassador Le Luong Minh said Vietnam is deeplyconcerned about the spread of violent attacks perpetrated by the LRAagainst civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the CentralAfrican Republic and the Sudan .

The LRA’s reprisal attacks continue to constitute a major threatto peace and security in the Great Lakes region, the Vietnameserepresentative said, demanding that the force lay down arms, renounceviolence and seriously join the Uganda Government in resuming the Jubapeace process.

While urging UN Missions in the region, namely MONUC, UNMIS andMINURCAT to strengthen cooperation in protecting civilians, AmbassadorMinh also called upon regional countries to improve information sharingand unite their efforts in their campaign against the remnants of theLRA in their respective territories.

At another UNSC session on the Madagascar situation the same day, theVietnamese representative called on the concerned parties in thecountry to put their national interest first to solve their disputespeacefully and fully enforce the Maputo Agreement and the power-sharingaccord signed on November 6, 2009 for the early establishment of anational solidarity government.

Ambassador Minh spoke highly of mediation efforts made by the AfricanUnion, the South African Development Community and Francophonie inMadagascar and asked those organisations to increase their coordinationwith the UN to help Madagascar go through the transitional periodsmoothly and make necessary preparations for the upcoming presidentialelection./.