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Middle East and North Africa

Foreign Ministry: Conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo cannot be settled by force

The government troops and the detachment of the March 23 Movement resumed military clashes

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, August 23 (Itar-Tass) - The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo cannot be settled by military means, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

The government troops and the detachment of the March 23 Movement (M23) resumed military clashes with the use of heavy arms.

“Russia confirms the principled position on the need to settle the conflict by peaceful means and urges all parties involved to show restraint,” the report says.

“Moscow believes that the long-term settlement of the situation in the region demands regional and international efforts to implement the framework agreement on peace, security and cooperation and the U.N. Security Council resolutions,” the report says.

The inter-ethnic conflict is followed by the struggle for natural resources: the region is rich of gold, stannum and rare minerals. According to the U.N. data, as a result of the clashes over 500,000 people became refugees while displaced persons are of 2.6 million.

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