On his first visit to post-war Democratic Republic of Congo since a South African peace accord came into effect last year, SA President Thabo Mbeki has hailed the progress made in restoring democracy in the vast country after years of conflict.
In comments made late on Tuesday at a banquet in his honour hosted by his DRC counterpart Joseph Kabila, Mbeki said he was ”extremely happy with progress made” in implementing the Pretoria-brokered peace deal, and added that South Africa would ”continue to support actions to maintain peace in DRC.”
South Africa played a key role in negotiations to end the war, which snowballed from a rebellion in 1998, drawing in six other African nations at its height and leaving the vast central African country’s infrastructure and economy in ruins.
Pretoria helped negotiate peace settlements between the DRC government and outside countries involved in the war, as well as among the internal parties to the conflict.
A key facet of the peace deal was the creation of an interim government, drawing in former foes in the war and tasked with guiding DRC to its first democratic elections in 40 years, and only the second since independence from Belgium in 1960.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy to the DRC said in a statement on Tuesday he was confident elections could be organised within the timeframe proposed in the peace pact — by 2005.
”It is possible on a technical level to organise elections in DRC,” William Lacy Swing, who also heads the UN Mission in DRC, Monuc, said.
But, he added, organising the elections depended largely on ”the government’s programme and the political will” and was ”less certain on a political level” because of the slow-moving transition process.
”Most of the laws covering the organisation of elections still have to be approved.
”The issues of refugees and displaced persons, the presence of foreign armed groups on Congolese territory and the demobilisation of local armed groups are also obstacles to be overcome to ensure that the elections go off smoothly,” he said.
Swing said that organising elections and re-establishing the rule of law in the former Zaire were priorities for Monuc.
Early this month, an international committee monitoring DRC’s progress in restoring democracy, deplored the slowness of preparations for the general election, supposed to be held in 2005.
Mineral-rich DRC emerged from war — which claimed up to 2,5-million lives, either directly in combat or through hunger and disease — in April 2003.
Days after enacting a peace accord on April 1 last year, Kabila — who has been a vector for peace and reconciliation since being propelled to power in January 2001, following the assassination of his father Laurent — promulgated a new constitution and was sworn in as president of the transition government.
The interim regime took office on June 30 last year, the day the former Belgian Congo celebrated 43 years of independence.
Mbeki said he was also happy with talks he held on Tuesday with the DRC’s four vice-presidents on cooperation between the two countries.
Kabila thanked the South African people for ”sharing the dream of all Congolese; national reconciliation and territorial integrity”.
Mbeki was due on Wednesday to address parliament and to sign a pact with Kabila setting up a joint commission to oversee exchanges in the defence and security sectors, trade, agriculture, mining, transport and communications.
Meanwhile, the chief of staff of the South African army arrived in Kinshasa on Wednesday at the start of a three-day visit.
General Sifiwe Nianda is leading a delegation of four army generals whose tour of DRC will include a visit to the military base of Kitona in southwestern Bas-Congo province, where thousands of former rebels from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda have been housed as they await repatriation, as provided for in peace accords
brokered by South Africa. – Sapa-AFP