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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990225_feat2.html
Blair says DRC war can devastate region
February 25, 1999
Windhoek - British Prime Minister Tony Blair says the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo "is potentially devastating" for the southern African region.
In a letter to President Sam Nujoma, Blair adds that "development and economic growth are being set back and untold suffering is being inflicted on its (the region's) people." British envoy Tony Lloyd yesterday delivered the letter to Prime Minister Hage Geingob. Lloyd is on a nine-country tour in an attempt to add Britain's weight to efforts to broker peace in the DRC.=
Blair said he was encouraging African efforts to find a peaceful and just settlement as "we know that solutions cannot be imposed from outside". Reports say Britain and the EU have pledged to give the DRC some US$111 million in aid if the fighting stops.
Speaking after meeting Geingob yesterday, Lloyd said: "We agreed that there needed to be an early ceasefire and a negotiated settlement to ensure lasting peace and prosperity for the region." He said he would report back to Blair on how Britain, the EU and the international community can support African efforts to end the conflict. Lloyd has already visited the DRC, South Africa, Angola.
He is expected to still visit Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe.