MARIETTE LE ROUX, Pretoria | Monday
SOUTH African-hosted talks aimed at achieving peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo could not be described as a failure, even though no agreement was reached on the critical issue of powersharing in a transitional government, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Sunday.
”Yes, [the talks] did not achieve all the objectives that needed to be achieved, but (they) covered a lot of ground,” she told reporters in Pretoria.
”When you are dealing with peace, it is not an all or none — 100% or zero percent.”
A great achievement of the talks, held at Sun City for the past eight weeks, was that it brought together all belligerent parties for the first time since former president Mobutu Sese Seko was overthrown in 1997, Dlamini-Zuma said.
Despite the uncertain outcome of the talks, the minister maintained that the costs for the dialogue, said to run to R50-million, were justified.
”Any costs for peace, for saving lives, for preventing war… I think any costs are warranted. You cannot measure peace and lives of people in rands and cents.”
She declined to reveal the total costs incurred by the South African government.
Several international bodies and foreign countries pledged money for the process, but it was not known how much of this had been forthcoming.
The negotiations this week culminated in an agreement between President Joseph Kabila’s government and the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC).
This would result in a transitional government with Kabila remaining as head of state and MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba as prime minister.
Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebels, backed by Rwanda, refused to sign the deal — which was rejected by facilitator Ketumile Masire.
War broke out in the former Zaire in August 1998 when Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi backed Congolese rebels seeking to oust then-president Laurent Kabila. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia sent troops to back the government.
The conflict has claimed an estimated 2,5-million lives.
Reacting to threats of a return to war in view of the limited power-sharing agreement, Dlamini-Zuma said this would be very unfortunate and should not be allowed.
”It would take the Congo and the continent years back,” she said.
The minister stressed that even though the peace process may be slow, a solution could not be imposed on the DRC by any other country.
”We can dictate as much as we want. But if they are not convinced, they will not do it. In the end it is in their hands.”
African peer pressure could only go so far as to impress upon the Congolese the importance of finding their own solution to the problem, Dlamini-Zuma said.
She expressed confidence that an inclusive deal could be struck if talks were allowed to continue.
Masire has proposed that five delegates from each of the groupings represented at the dialogue remain in South Africa for continued negotiations.
Whether this would happen, ”I don’t know,” Dlamini-Zuma said.
Some of the delegates have already left the country.
She stressed the importance of the DRC government, the RCD, the MLC and unarmed opposition political parties all being party to the final agreement, failing which it had no chance of survival.
”That is why the inter-Congolese dialogue has not quite succeeded 100%.”
The minister expressed concern about the lack of trust between the parties, but said they had at least agreed on some of the outstanding issues.
This included the type of government that should be put in place, and that a single president should be elected for the interim executive –possibly Kabila. – Sapa