NEW YORK, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Peace could come to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo if certain challenges can be overcome, a U.N. envoy said.
Alan Doss, the secretary-general's special representative for Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that success on a number of fronts has led to the possibility of calm reigning in the Central African country's eastern region, a U.N. release reported.
"There is now a real prospect that the conflicts that have long blighted the eastern Congo can be ended," Doss said.
Doss, who is also the head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the DRC, credited the Congolese Army with successfully weakening rebel forces in the North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale provinces.
Government forces are locked in a violent struggle with Hutu rebel forces and the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army during recent years.
The United Nations said the ongoing conflict has resulted in an estimated 2.2 million internally displaced persons in the African country.
