Rebel and government representatives of the Democratic Republic of Congo agree that the issues they will be wrestling with when they gather in Pretoria next week should have been nailed down a month ago.
Two months after they signed a transitional power-sharing agreement, the belligerents continue to argue about virtually everything except that things need to be moving faster.
Inevitably, the major players in the Congo are trading charges of wanting to reignite the war. These claims include the recruitment of new fighters — in contravention of the peace deal — even among the Congo expatriate community in South Africa.
The delay, says the largest rebel group, the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), is caused by President Joseph Kabila’s foot-dragging. They and their Rwandan backers say Kabila appears reluctant to take up the presidency given to him in the Pretoria agreement.
”We can only assume that Kabila’s agenda is to prolong the war indefinitely in order to cling to what he misguidedly believes is absolute power for as long as possible,” said Thomas Nziratimana, the RCD representative in South Africa this week.
”Just seven days after signing the historic agreement in Pretoria in December we captured a government plane in south Kivu loaded with arms and ammunition. We have the plane’s black box whose recording proves beyond question that the cargo was intended for the negative forces maintaining the war in the east of the [Congo],” said Nziratimana.
He added that two weeks ago Kabila had ordered five battalions of soldiers into north Kivu to bolster RCD defectors now fighting with the government.
Kabila’s ambassador to Pretoria, Bene M’Poko, said the charges reflected the fears of rebels unable to accept a united Congo. ”It is in the best interest of President Kabila to have the government of national unity in place for the next two years,” M’Poko said. ”Why should he delay?”
He said the hold-up had been caused by the delay in the United Nations signing a new contract with mediator Moustapha Niasse. Niasse, a Senegalese presidential candidate, was drafted by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to break the logjam after the protracted negotiations during the unsuccessful Inter Congolese Dialogue at Sun City last year. ”Only after his contract was signed this month could Niasse travel to the region to consult the players,” said M’Poko.
The ambassador believes the negotiations will last only a week. ”We have already done 98% of the work,” he said. ”There are only two items on the agenda: adopting the Constitution for the transitional government and agreeing on the modalities for integrating the various combatant forces into the [Congolese] army.”
Nziratimana insists, however, that guaranteeing the security of leaders and institutions during the transitional phase will loom large.
He said their minimum requirements are for:
A peacekeeping force endorsed by the UN and the African Union, with a clear mandate to use force if necessary.
A police force with members drawn equally from the RCD, the Congolese Liberation Movement and the Kinshasa regime.
A similarly representative army unit whose positioning would be negotiated.
An understanding by Kabila that he will use all resources possible to create an atmosphere in Kinshasa conducive to a successful implementation phase.
South African Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi is clearing his desk to step in as co-mediator with Niasse. He will have learnt from the marathon sessions leading up to the December 17 signing not to heed any promise of speedy progress.
The Congolese have a track record of stretching to breaking point that political cliché about a week being a long time in politics.