LOC02:19
23:19 GMT
WASHINGTON, April 1 (KUNA) -- President Barack Obama spoke Tuesday with President Joseph Kabila, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and emphasized the importance of the country's timely, credible, and peaceful elections.
During the call Obama noted "President Kabila's legacy as a leader who brought the DRC out of war and set it on a path of continued democratic progress would be consolidated by free and fair elections in 2016," according to a statement from the White House.
Obama assured Kabila that the US would remain engaged with the DRC throughout its elections with the appointment of a new US Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes Region and the DRC.
The leaders reaffirmed "shared commitment to ending the threat of armed groups, particularly the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)."
Obama encouraged cooperation between DRC's Armed Forces and the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in operations against FDLR. (end)
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