The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) transition government on Monday urged warlords from the strife-torn northeastern Ituri region to back the vast Central African country’s transition to peace and democracy.
”The country is counting on you to back the transition process. You must put an end to violence,” said DRC Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa in a speech to open what he called ”a last-chance meeting” for ”durable peace” in Ituri, where fighting has continued despite peace being restored to most of the rest of the DRC after a five-year war.
Ruberwa is one of four vice-presidents in a transition regime set up in June last year, two months after a peace pact was enacted to end the DRC’s war, which claimed about 2,5-million lives, both indirectly through famine and hunger and directly in combat.
Hundreds have died in fighting and massacres in Ituri since the broader peace pact for the DRC was enacted. Since 1999, 55 000 people have died in Ituri, near Uganda, and half a million have been forced from their homes.
The DRC government is hoping that the 20 militia leaders from Ituri at the talks will endorse an ”act of commitment” and lay down their arms.
”This day of reflection is organised with a view to restoring peace and the authority of the state quickly across the entire country, but notably in Ituri,” said Ruberwa.
Interior and Security Minister Theophile Mbemba Fundu said the on-going conflict in Ituri has ”very much weakened” the peace process, while fanning ethnic hatred in Ituri.
He vowed to bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Ituri.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special representative to the DRC, William Lacy Swing, who was also attending the two-day meeting, said it is likely to be the last chance for all sides involved in the Ituri conflict to pull their region out of crisis.
”This meeting, which is the second since August 2003, will give — doubtless for the last time — all the protagonists in the Ituri conflict the chance to confirm their commitment to finally pull this region out of the abyss it plunged into five years ago,” said Swing.
He said the UN, which has 4 700 peacekeepers deployed in Ituri, ”will not accept that the massacres continue”.
The UN force took over last September from French-led European Union troops to restore security in Ituri.
Most of Ituri, which is home to rich deposits of gemstones, various minerals and oil, is controlled by militia groups whose members are drawn mainly from two warring ethnic groups, the majority Lendu and minority Hema. — Sapa-AFP