UNION
POUR LA DÉMOCRATIE
ET LE PROGRÈS SOCIAL

UDPS Peace Plan

I have read with interest the peace plan forwarded to the Secretary-General by Mr. Etienne Tshisekedi, which includes national, regional, and international components. While some scholars such as William I. Zartman have editorialized that there is no constructive role for the UN to play in the current war in the DRC, I must repectfully disagree. I would hope that Secretary-General Annan gives this plan the immediate attention it deserves. As the diplomatic efforts by SADC and the OAU have thus far been unsuccessful, new efforts by the UN must be entertained as the humanitarian situation in eastern Congo continues to deteriorate.

Respectfully,

Bruce F. Hendrickson

The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs,
The University of Texas at Austin

Reply:

Dear Bruce,

Thanks so much for your support to the UDPS peace initiative. As you may have learned from an announcement on this site, Dr E. Tshisekedi has been invited by the European Parliament to explain the UDPS peace plan. The European Parliament found that our plan deserves immediate attention and that it is fully implementable.

A way for our non-Congolese friends to help us regarding this issue is to write to the UN General Secratary urging him to give the plan the immediate attention it deserves. Also, encourage our other friends to do so.

Another way is to contact distinguished lawyers, professors, community leaders and politicians interrested in Congolese affairs and make them clear that it is time to give a chance to the congolese people by supporting such a wise initiative as the one led by Dr Tshisekedi.

---- The editors