Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, on Friday signed a peace agreement aimed at ending the war in the vast central African nation.
The agreement, brokered by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and signed in the Angolan capital Luanda, notably provides for the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the north of the DRC. Other details were not immediately disclosed.
Uganda and Rwanda have backed rebel movements in the eastern DRC since 1998, while Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe had deployed troops to shore up the Kabila government.
”Angola wants to be the promoter of stability in the region,” Dos Santos said in brief remarks. ”This accord will enable the return of lasting peace.”
”You have made a gesture of optimism, which shows there is the political will,” Dos Santos added. ”We must now work to eliminate the mistrust that still remains.”
The signing of a peace accord between Kabila and Museveni comes just over a month after another peace deal was signed in Pretoria by Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Under that deal, signed on July 30, Kabila pledged to stop supporting and to disarm and regroup Rwandan Hutu rebels based in the east of the DRC, in return for which Kagame pledged to pull more than 20 000 Rwandan troops from the DRC. – Sapa