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A direct telephone line was reinstalled on Wednesday between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and neighbouring Republic of Congo (ROC) after a 15-year hiatus, the director of the National Telecommunications and Post Office, Rene-Serge Blanchard Oba, said in the ROC capital, Brazzaville.

Aged equipment, too expensive to replace, had prevented direct phone links between the neighbours.

"President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, having restored relations with his DRC counterpart, Joseph Kabila, wanted the telephone line re-established so that the people of both countries could communicate with ease and reconcile their differences," Oba said.

The two countries signed a telecommunications agreement on 27 March 2002.

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2002