Admonishing the Congolese belligerents gathered in Pretoria last Saturday, President Thabo Mbeki rivalled the rugby coaches that were simultaneously whipping up the Blue Bulls and the Lions before the Currie Cup final across the Jukskei river.
Mbeki used that emotive combination of fear tactics and inspiration that locker room veterans never seem to tire of.
”There have been very disturbing developments in West Africa with the growth of the pool of mercenaries,” he said. Not only were there more and more killers for hire, they had access to a burgeoning supply of cheap weapons.
”We do not want to get into that situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Mbeki said archly. ”If you reach agreement on the transitional period leading to democratic elections, then we can make sure there are people to deal with such problems. That kind of situation is best dealt with by the Congolese parties acting together.”
Mbeki said Cote d’Ivoire had been a setback for Africa and its recovery plan, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. By contrast, the fact that the Congo was nearing a comprehensive peace deal was viewed internationally as a positive African development.
”This puts pressure on all of us to produce a result for the Congo and for the continent,” he said.
While coaches Heyneke Meyer and Frans Ludeke got their result, Mbeki’s game, scheduled for three days, went into extra time.
The Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) of Jean-Pierre Bemba called the bluff of the Congo government team and the delegation from Adolphe Onusumba’s Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) by agreeing to the formulation of the transitional executive.
This would give Joseph Kabila the presidency, with four vice-presidents representing the government, the RCD, the MLC and the unarmed opposition groups.
But Bemba’s men said the meeting needed to decide immediately on the sharing of portfolios in the transitional government. The MLC placed on record that it wants control of the Ministry of Mining and Minerals.
So it was the government team that blinked. They said they had run out of mandate and had to go back home for consultations.
Kabila was due back in Pretoria with them on Friday. The president’s main business, however, is to review progress on the three-month-old Pretoria Agreement signed in the presence of Mbeki with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame.
The agreement was that Rwanda would pull its 20 000 troops out of the Congo, provided Kabila identifies and expels the Rwandan Hutu rebels hiding out in the country after being involved in the 1993 genocide of Tutsis.
Mbeki’s spin on this again sounded remarkably like someone urging a team to push harder.
”The more progress made with implementing the Pretoria Agreement, the greater the urgency to create a transitional government,” he told the warring groups.
”That is an additional point of pressure on you.”