South Africa’s mediation role in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being contested by elements of President Joseph Kabila’s government and other leaders of the region.
Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos made it clear this week that he wanted the United Nations, and not South Africa, to kick-start the process that has failed to take off since the signing of the final peace agreement at Sun City on April 1.
The assertion comes as South Africa awaits the arrival of Moustapha Niasse, the special representive of the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to the DRC negotiations.
Niasse and South African Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi steered the delicate and protracted negotiations between DRC military and political players last year that achieved the landmark agreement signed in Pretoria last December.
They are expected to take their successful double act back on the road to restart the Congolese process.
Dos Santos expressed his misgivings to the ambassadors of the 15 UN Security Council members visiting the Great Lakes region to breathe some life into the peace processes in the DRC and Burundi.
The ambassadors stopped in Pretoria and Luanda before embarking on their peace safari. Speaking privately, the ambassadors expressed surprise at the contrast between the positions of President Thabo Mbeki and Dos Santos.
Mbeki supports the claim of the Goma-based rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCDG) to nominate the commander of the all-important ground forces during the DRC’s two-year transition period leading to democratic elections.
Days before the signatures were put to the Sun City Accord, both government and rebel belligerents shied away from signing a military agreement containing this arrangement.
They feared that since the Rwandan-backed RCDG had already been allocated the defence ministry in the transitional government, it would have a stranglehold on DRC forces.
The absence of a military agreement, regarded as a mere detail by the South Africans, is viewed by Dos Santos and Kabila as the major stumbling block.
Dos Santos told the envoys that Angola had failed to achieve military integration and had paid with a civil war. Kabila is pushing for the army commander to be taken from the ranks of his own forces.
Sources close to Kabila say he suspects South Africa has a pro-Rwanda bias. Rwandan troops have ostensibly left the DRC in terms of the Pretoria Agreement signed last July.
Rwandan rivalry with Uganda is, however, a major contributory factor to the violence tearing at Ituri and Kivus in the east of the DRC.
Dos Santos made it plain that Rwanda had no business being involved in the DRC. To the chagrin of the UN envoys, he suggested that Angolan troops might once again become involved in that country, but this time under the UN umbrella.
The UN is adamant that no neighbouring states — particularly those once involved in the five years of fighting — be included in the peacekeeping operation.
Angolans see themselves as very serious military players in Africa and smart about the fact that South Africa has 1 200 troops in Monuc, the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC.
In addition, Mbeki told the Security Council envoys this week that South Africa would lend military support to the French-led international force of 1 700 troops now deploying in Bunia, the capital of Ituri. This force will protect civilians, humanitarian workers and UN personnel until Monuc is beefed up by the arrival of a contingent from Bangladesh in September.
The arrival of arms for the South African Monuc contingent, which is deployed in the troubled Kivus, sparked a rumour this week that Pretoria was sending mercenaries and hardware into the bloody east of the DRC.
The source of this misinformation, Monuc officials said, was a known Kabila acolyte posing as a Mai Mai leader. Monuc wasted no time knocking the story down and expressing its appreciation for the role played by South African troops.
Meanwhile, Kabila was effectively sent off empty-handed when he demanded sanctions against Rwanda for its support of the RCDG.
Jean-Marc de la Sablière, the French ambassador leading the Security Council team, said they were there to urge neighbours to play a positive role. However, he insisted: “Sanctions are not on the agenda.”
The ambassadors, nevertheless, flew to troubled Bunia with some encouraging news. The Congolese players themselves have set a deadline of June 30 for implementing the transitional government.
It remains to be seen if this deadline can be met — and particularly whether the transitional government can work without first achieving the illusive agreement on who runs what in the armed forces.