President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has said he wants to capitalise on the peace deal he signed with Rwanda through further peace accords with neighbouring Uganda and Burundi.
”After the Pretoria accord, our country is preparing to sign two similar accords with Uganda and Burundi,” Kabila told local newspaper editors on Saturday, referring to the accord he signed with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the South African capital on July 30.
”The world is tired of the war in DRC,” Kabila said, saying the moment had come to take advantage of the international community’s determination ”to ensure that things really get moving”.
An estimated 2,5-million people have been killed and millions more have fled their homes, according to relief agencies, in the bloody central African war which started four years ago.
The fighting started when Rwandan Hutu rebels involved in the 1994 genocide Tutsti community fled across the border into DRC.
Angola, Chad, Namibia and Zimbabwe joined the conflict on the side of the DRC government, Uganda and Burundi who sent troops to back rebels.
Kabila said it was now up to Rwanda to show its commitment to the peace deal.
”This is the first time since the start of the war that Rwanda has agreed to withdraw its troops,” he said, recalling that South Africa and the United Nations had agreed to underwrite the peace accord.
”I would not say today that we can have 100% confidence in president Kagame. We have had three million deaths,” Kabila was quoted as saying.
”But for our part, we are determined to implement this accord,” he said.
Kabila also spoke about power-sharing a deal in Sun City, South Africa, in April he signed with the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), a Ugandan-backed rebel group.
The Sun City agreement stipulated that Kabila would remain as DRC head of state in an interim government, and that MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba would be prime minister.
Kabila said the Sun City deal was in no way aimed at granting either of them full power, and that it was merely a power-sharing arrangement.
Without referring to him by name, Kabila denounced Bemba for proclaiming himself a general and promoting 1 000 officers and non-commissioned officers in his army.
”There are universal principles for the command of an army from which our country cannot digress,” Kabila said.
”When one allows a prime minister, the head of the government, to also take command of the army, it is certain that this will with time turn into a dictatorship.” – Sapa-AFP