| by Fernando Goncalves In line
with the spirit of continued search for peace and stability in the region, several
initiatives have been undertaken to end the conflict in the DRC. The most recent of such
initiatives was the Lusaka Peace Summit in July which culminated in a ceasefire agreement
signed by leaders of six countries involved in the DRC war and their Zambian counterpart,
giving hope of an end to the two-year-old conflict.
The DRC peace agreement was extracted after almost one month of
intense negotiations in the Zambian capital, involving first, Ministers of Foreign Affairs
and Defence from all SADC countries, and later
restricted to representatives of those countries militarily involved in the conflict, the
hosts and the rebels.
But when the hour of truth came, and against all expectations, the
rebels threw spanners in the works, casting a dense cloud of uncertainty regarding the
success of the peace initiative.
The split among the RCD rebels had grown so deep that both faction
leaders, Emile Ilunga, who claims to be the legitimate leader of the movement, and Ernest
Wamba dia Wamba, who was deposed in a palace coup in May, each claiming to have the sole
right to put their signatures to the deal.
In the midst of the confusion, Jean Pierre Bemba’s Movement
for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) was celebrating its capture of the late Mobutu’s
home town of Gbadolite, in the north of the country. The MLC had sent representatives to
the Lusaka peace summit which initially refused to sign, saying they will only do so after
the RCD has sorted out its problems.
However, with the involvement of two SADC leaders, Bemba has now
signed the agreement but on condition he would withdraw his signature if other rival rebel
groups did not follow suit.
Among some of its provisions, the agreement calls for the
cessation of hostilities within 24 hours of its signing and the release of hostages and
prisoners of war within 30 days.
It also establishes a Joint Military Commission (JMC) to oversee
the implementation of the ceasefire and undertake peace keeping operations until the
deployment of a larger UN peace keeping force.
Chaired by the OAU, the JMC
includes two representatives from each of the signatories, and is assisted in its
operations by a joint OAU/UN observer mission.
Secretary general Koffi Annan has declared his commitment to see
the implementation of the agreement, but a final decision depends on the security council,
currently preoccupied with ensuring the success of the Kosovo peace keeping operation. |
Observers note that a
potential problem facing the peace process is that the various rebel groups may opt to
keep large parts of their forces out of the process as an insurance policy. The Mayi Mayi fighters, who have always been left out of the process, have
already declared that they will not recognise the agreement, and RCD-Goma vice president,
Moise Nyarugabo, is on record saying that the signing of the agreement did not mean the
recognition of Kabila as head of state. Nor does his group intend to give up territory
under its control, as stipulated in the peace agreement.
“We did not fight in order to hand everything back,”
Nyarugabo said recently.
There also appear to be differences of interpretation of the
clauses in the agreement dealing with the unification of governent and rebel forces.
Nyarugabo says the integration does not mean the incorporation of RCD troops into the
present government army. “The aim is to restructure and create a new army,” he
adds.
The uncertainty over the success of the the agreement is
exacerbated by reports that as recently as a week before the signing of the document,
Rwanda had sent into the DRC an additional 7 000 troops.
This was followed by Rwanda’s vice president and defence
minister, Paul Kagame’s utterances that if the agreement fails to round up, disarm
and hand over the Interahamwe, his government was ready to go it alone.
Rwanda and Uganda have argued that they are in the DRC to
guarantee the security of their borders in the face of persistent attacks against their
territories by the Interahamwe and former members of the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), who
fled to the DRC after the 1994 massacres in Rwanda.
However, the agreement leaves the issue of the security concerns
of DRC’s neighbours for later and outside its scope. Upon entry into force, the
agreement says, “the parties commit themselves to immediately address the security
concerns of the DRC and her neighbbouring countries.”
But it makes no provisions for enforcement, or the penalties
deriving from such violations. It also implies that the DRC is the only source of
instability in the region, and therefore it places on it the burden of ensuring that
security in the region prevails. |
By creating the impression
that it is the DRC that should ensure the security of the region, by eliminating rebel
groups operating in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, the negotiators of the agreement have
exonerated the three countries from ensuring their own security by embarking on a genuine
process of national reconciliation with the various political forces fighting them. The JMC is also responsible for tracking, disarming, cantoning and
documenting all armed groups operating in the DRC, including those that have been accused
of perpetrating attacks against Angola, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, and handing over
perpetrators of the gernocide in Rwanda to the International Crimes Tribunal in Arusha.
The final withdrawal of all foreign forces including those of
allies on both sides of the conflict, is expected to be complete within six months of the
agreement being signed, followed by the re-establishment of government authority
throughout the country, disarmament of non-military personnel and the normalisation of
security along all DRC’s international borders.
The DRC has for many years been plagued by ethnic conflicts,
particularly in the east of the country, where there is a large concentration of the
Banyamulenge, who centuries ago settled in the Kivu provinces. Natives in the area
consider the Banyamulenge immigrants from Rwanda, who do not therefore qualify for
citizenship.
The peace agreement guarantees that “all ethnic groups and
nationalities” who were part of the DRC territory at independence in 1964 “must
enjoy equal rights and protection under the law as citizens.”
The agreement also commits President Kabila’s government to
enter into “an open national dialogue” with all political forces in the country,
leading to a new political dispensation and national reconciliation. The OAU is expected
to assist in the process, to be headed by a neutral facilitator agreed to by all parties.
The agreement imposes that the internal settlement in the DRC must
result in among other issues, the formation of a new national army that includes members
of the government forces, the RCD and the MLC.
It must also result in the establishment of institituions aimed at
ensuring good governance, the holding of democratic elections and the enactment of a new
constitution..
Lesotho opposition parties lobby for
electoral change
SADC in the next millenium: Working
together for peace, progress and prosperity
SADC Day celebrations to precede Maputo
summit |
