MICHEL CARIOU, Kinshasa | Thursday
THE Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) peace process faces a crucial test on Thursday when five countries whose troops have been engaged in bloody warfare for the past two-and-a-half years are slated to begin disengaging their forces.
Under deals reached in Kampala and Harare last year and at UN Security Council headquarters in New York last month, all forces in the DRC are due to begin to pull back 15km from their front lines in the first stage of a full withdrawal.
However, indications that all will not be plain sailing came late Wednesday from Gaetan Kakudji, an envoy sent to Luanda by DRC President Joseph Kabila, who told reporters Kinshasa’s military allies will not start withdrawing until the Rwandan and Ugandan forces begin their own redeployments.
“The allies are not going to [start to] withdraw until after the retreat of the Rwandan and Ugandan invaders, which should begin March 15 as expected,” Kakudji said after meeting Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
The UN Observer Mission in the DRC (MONUC) Wednesday called on government, rebel and foreign forces to “avoid any military action” that might hamper the operation, set to last two weeks.
The special representative of the United Nations here launched “an appeal to all the parties to avoid any action … especially military, that might compromise the smooth conduct of the operation,” said MONUC’s civilian representative Hamadoun Toure.
MONUC military representative Lieutenant-Colonel Regis Barman said, meanwhile, that the United Nations had received no new information about fighting between loyalist and rebel forces in northwestern Equateur Province.
MONUC reported the fighting on Monday, the first serious clashes since the disengagement agreements were signed.
The conflict, which broke out in August 1998, pits DRC government forces backed by Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia against rebel factions supported by Rwanda and Uganda.
Uganda and Rwanda have already begun redeploying their forces away from combat zones, while Namibia has pledged to do so. Angolan authorities have said they will not withdraw from the DRC unless Kinshasa asks them to, while Zimbabwe has not indicated its position. – AFP