On the occasion of the launch of Forbes-Africa yesterday in Brazzaville, Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE group and Louis Michel (co-chair of the EU-ACP parliamentary assembly currently on a mediation mission in RDC and Rwanda) called for the immediate establishment of an international force under the control of the United Nations with a strengthened mandate based on UN chapter VII in order to end the risk of destabilisation in Eastern Congo which has so far resulted in 800,000 deplaced persons, including 230,000 since April.

"The international community has the moral obligation to intervene to bring an end to the conflict definitively and to halt the unacceptable demands of a series of armed groups," said Louis Michel.

"The mandate of Monusco (UN stabilisation mission) must be reinforced so that it has the means to end the current conflict. In parallel, the international community must encourage the permanent dialogue between the countries of the region and especially between the RDC and Rwanda."