French President Francois Hollande has called for an end to the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hollande made the remarks on Saturday in a speech to the Francophonie Summit in the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

Fifteen heads of state of the Francophonie organization’s 75 member countries attended the summit, which was hosted by Congolese President Joseph Kabila.

Hollande said that French-speaking countries must be committed to democracy. "The French language must bring democracy."

"I wanted to come here personally to express once more my confidence in the future of Africa, which is the youth of the world," he added.

"I am favorable to the broadening of the MONUSCO (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo) mandate," Hollande stated, referring to the UN force that has some 19,000 uniformed personnel deployed in Congo.

The Congolese president spoke about "an unjust war imposed by outsiders” in the east of the country.

"While our people are sparing no effort to improve their lives, negative forces beholden to outside interests have for several months worked to destabilize our country in North Kivu province," on the eastern border with Rwanda, Kabila told participants at the summit.

Since early May, over 220,000 civilians have fled their homes in the eastern Congo. Most of them have resettled inside Congo, but tens of thousands have crossed into neighboring Rwanda and Uganda.


The March 23 movement (M23) rebels defected from the Congolese army in April in protest over alleged mistreatment in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). They had previously been integrated into the Congolese army under a peace deal signed in 2009.

The mutiny is being led by General Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on a charge of recruiting child soldiers.

Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on for over a decade and left over 5.5 million people dead.
Press TV