Sun City | Tuesday
THE armed-wing of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) rebel movement, the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Original (RCD-OR), has asked Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian armies to return to their countries for the sake of peace in the war-ravaged central African nation.
”The time has now arrived for these armies to leave Congo because our mission has been accomplished. We now want to give the peace talks at Sun City a chance,” commander of the Congolese National Army, Songolo Nura told Sapa from Manono on Tuesday. Manono is the south-eastern birth place of assassinated DRC president Laurent Kabila.
The RCD-OR army has 40 000 soldiers, of which 36 000 are of Congolese origin. The remaining 4 000 are the Banyamulenge soldiers from neighbouring Burundi. The other rebel movement – the Congolese Liberation Movement – has about 15 000 soldiers.
In August 1998, the RCD-OR armed wing invited soldiers from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda to come and help ”correct” what rebel leaders called the ”wrongs of democracy under the Kabila administration”. They waged a three-and-half-year offensive against government troops – a civil war which left more than 2,7-million people dead. Fighting still continues in certain parts of the DRC.
Nura said the presence of the armies from these countries could no longer be justified in terms of international conventions.
”We are tired of war because we lost a lot of people. These armies should now leave because the armed struggle is over. Let them know that we (Congolese) will not take the gun anymore,” he said.
Nura said the RCD-OR army believed that officials from Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi should approach international forums, including the United Nations, over their security concerns. ”For our part, we guarantee to them that their security concerns will be looked after,” he said.
Nura claimed the officers of the ”invited armies” had infiltrated the Inter-Congolese Dialogue at Sun City in the North West. ”We are requesting these officers to leave the Congolese alone so that they can solve their problems,” he said.
He said that if the armies from the three countries refuse to leave the DRC, they would be regarded as enemies of the Congolese.
”If these foreign troops refuse to leave… we will regard them as invaders. But for now they are our invited guests,” he added.
Nura said the vice president of the RCD-OR, Shetembe Muhambo, would travel to DRC’s nine neighbouring countries, including Angola, Rwanda and Zimbabwe ”to say to them we are tired of the war”. He thanked the ”invited” armies for their support during the armed struggle against Kabila.
”We thank them very much for their help. But they must leave now because the remaining problems will be solved by the Congolese at the Sun City multiparty talks… without any interference from whatever quarter,” Nura said.
Meanwhile, the Sun City talks, which aims to end the DRC war, remained stalled on Tuesday as delegates of 15 Congolese parties failed to solve a dispute over representation. Should the talks start this week as expected, they will also be geared towards the formation of an interim government and holding the first democratic elections in the DRC. – Sapa