LAWRENCE BARTLETT, Lusaka | Monday 9.00pm.
EFFORTS to end Africa’s international conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo faltered on Monday as a draft ceasefire agreement was rejected by some of the warring parties, conference sources said.
A long-awaited meeting of foreign and defence ministers in the Zambian capital Lusaka broke up within two hours, with participants saying the DRC government and Zimbabwe refused to ratify the document as it stands.
A senior western diplomat monitoring the talks for the European Union said there were several stumbling blocks.
These involve the withdrawal of foreign forces, the administration of areas under rebel control, the disarming of militias and plans to create a democratic political system in the vast strife-ridden country.
The ministers, who finally met after a technical committee of officials thrashed out the draft agreement over five days, adjourned to consult their heads of state and agreed to meet again on Monday night. If the ministers do ratify the document, the heads of state from the six warring countries and leaders of the two main rebel factions will be called to a summit to sign a ceasefire ending the 11-month-old war.
If they do not, the western diplomat said, “we can expect an immediate military escalation on the ground and it will take a long time to get a new momentum for peace going.”
A copy of the revised ceasefire document calls for a cessation of hostilities 24 hours after signing, with armed forces remaining in the positions they occupy.
A Joint Military Commission (JMC) composed of three senior military commanders from each of the signatories, military experts from the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity and a neutral chairman appointed by the OAU, would be established, to oversee the peaceful withdrawal of foreign troops.
The draft document calls for the UN Security Council — under its “peace enforcement mandate” — to deploy an “appropriate” peacekeeping force in the DRC, and, “taking into account the peculiar situation of the DRC, to track down all renegade forces.”
Addressing the security concerns of Rwanda and Uganda, a second protocol resolves that all “renegade forces” in the region — including the Interahamwe Hutu militia responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide — will be disarmed, cantoned and documented. — AFP