The main rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is backed by Rwanda, rejoined a final plenary session of peace talks in Pretoria late on Thursday after walking out earlier in the day.
Delegates from the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) joined the main plenary session to sign agreements aimed at fine-tuning a power-sharing deal signed here in December last year. Following their return, the representatives of DRC government, major rebel movements and the political opposition adopted a draft
interim constitution and a memorandum on military and security transition at the plenary session.
”We have decided we will sign, because this is a child that we conceived and are now bringing into the world,” RCD delegate Moise Ngarugabo told the plenary session.
Earlier in the day, Azarias Ruberwa, the RCD secretary-general said his movement was suspending its participation in the talks, alleging that Kinshasa was involved in fighting in northeast DRC.
Clashes had broken out in the town of Bunia early on Thursday between Ugandan soldiers and a small rebel group backed by the RCD. The Ugandan army subsequently said it was in control of the town, since the rebels had fled.
”We cannot continue to negotiate with a government that sends a team to negotiations and another, the army, to kill people and resume the war,” Ruberwa said, speaking by telephone from his group’s headquarters in Goma, near the border with Rwanda.
The decision to return to the negotiating table was welcomed by Moustapha Niasse, special envoy to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is a mediator in the talks.
”We welcome the RCD,” Niasse said after a brief meeting with delegates from the rebel group in the Presidential Guest House in the South African capital. The representatives at the Pretoria talks concluded 11 days of intensive discussions late on Thursday. The dialogue has focussed on constitutional, military and security matters in a two-year transition process that will culminate in the first democratic elections in the vast central African country since independence from Belgium in 1960. – Sapa-AFP