Congo Fighting Bad For Lusaka Accord
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Maj. Gen. Paul Kagame, have warned that an upsurge in violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo threatens the implementation of the Lusaka accord.
By Felix Osike.
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Maj. Gen. Paul Kagame, have warned that an upsurge in violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo threatens the implementation of the Lusaka accord.
Fighting has flared in the key eastern cities of Uvira and Bukavu, which were seized from the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) at the weekend by the Mai Mai militia ,prompting the rebels to break off peace talks with the government.
At a meeting in London on Thursday, brokered by the British Secretary for International Development, Clare Short, the two leaders appealed to the chairman of the African Union, South African President Thabo Mbeki, to convene an urgent regional summit.
The summit is to address the implementation of the Lusaka, Luanda and Pretoria agreements and call on all parties involved to fulfil their obligations.
Museveni and Kagame also acknowledged that the agreements they separately signed with the Kinshasa government were major breakthroughs in the search for peace.
The agreements, they said, also enabled each country involved in the conflict to pull out its troops.
“These agreements provided a real opportunity for sustainable peace and a basis for development in the DRC,†read a communiqué issued after the talks.
Short said the prospect for peace in the DRC would improve life for all the people in the region.
Fighting broke out immediately after the withdrawal from the region on October 5 of some 20,000 Rwandan troops, as rival militia groups battled to fill the power vacuum created by the pullout.
The RCD have controlled eastern DRC with the backing from Kigali since war broke out in the vast central African country in 1998.
The RCD has so far not reached a deal with Kinshasa, having refused to be party to an accord struck in April between Kinshasa and the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement rebels, on the sidelines of six-week-long peace talks, called the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.
On Burundi the two presidents agreed to work together to ensure that the CNDD-FDD rebel group of Peter Nkurunziza and the FNL of Rwasa Agathon join the cease-fire agreement in a bid to end the war.
Museveni and Kagame also agreed to meet in six months time to review the ongoing efforts to normalise the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Relations between the two countries were damaged after their armies clashed thrice in 1999 and 2000 in the northeastern Congolese city of Kisangani.
The clashes triggered off a diplomatic row between Kampala and Kigali.
Last July, defence ministers of Rwanda and Uganda signed an agreement designed to build confidence and understanding between their once hostile armies.
The memorandum of understanding signed in July in Kampala by defence minister Amama Mbabazi and his Rwandan counterpart, Brig-Gen. Emmanuel Habyarimana, provided for an exchange of military liaison officers and exchange of information between military intelligence chiefs of the two nations.
It also provided for operational procedures for patrols and liaison officers who will monitor national parks in border areas. Each nation had accused the other of training rebels to overthrow their governments. Representatives of the two countries had exchanged 23 visits to investigate the accusations, but found no relevant evidence.
Ends
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Maj. Gen. Paul Kagame, have warned that an upsurge in violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo threatens the implementation of the Lusaka accord.
Fighting has flared in the key eastern cities of Uvira and Bukavu, which were seized from the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) at the weekend by the Mai Mai militia ,prompting the rebels to break off peace talks with the government.
At a meeting in London on Thursday, brokered by the British Secretary for International Development, Clare Short, the two leaders appealed to the chairman of the African Union, South African President Thabo Mbeki, to convene an urgent regional summit.
The summit is to address the implementation of the Lusaka, Luanda and Pretoria agreements and call on all parties involved to fulfil their obligations.
Museveni and Kagame also acknowledged that the agreements they separately signed with the Kinshasa government were major breakthroughs in the search for peace.
The agreements, they said, also enabled each country involved in the conflict to pull out its troops.
“These agreements provided a real opportunity for sustainable peace and a basis for development in the DRC,†read a communiqué issued after the talks.
Short said the prospect for peace in the DRC would improve life for all the people in the region.
Fighting broke out immediately after the withdrawal from the region on October 5 of some 20,000 Rwandan troops, as rival militia groups battled to fill the power vacuum created by the pullout.
The RCD have controlled eastern DRC with the backing from Kigali since war broke out in the vast central African country in 1998.
The RCD has so far not reached a deal with Kinshasa, having refused to be party to an accord struck in April between Kinshasa and the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement rebels, on the sidelines of six-week-long peace talks, called the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.
On Burundi the two presidents agreed to work together to ensure that the CNDD-FDD rebel group of Peter Nkurunziza and the FNL of Rwasa Agathon join the cease-fire agreement in a bid to end the war.
Museveni and Kagame also agreed to meet in six months time to review the ongoing efforts to normalise the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Relations between the two countries were damaged after their armies clashed thrice in 1999 and 2000 in the northeastern Congolese city of Kisangani.
The clashes triggered off a diplomatic row between Kampala and Kigali.
Last July, defence ministers of Rwanda and Uganda signed an agreement designed to build confidence and understanding between their once hostile armies.
The memorandum of understanding signed in July in Kampala by defence minister Amama Mbabazi and his Rwandan counterpart, Brig-Gen. Emmanuel Habyarimana, provided for an exchange of military liaison officers and exchange of information between military intelligence chiefs of the two nations.
It also provided for operational procedures for patrols and liaison officers who will monitor national parks in border areas. Each nation had accused the other of training rebels to overthrow their governments. Representatives of the two countries had exchanged 23 visits to investigate the accusations, but found no relevant evidence.
Ends