DRC peace deal 'just a start'

2008-01-24 19:29

Kinshasa - The first peace deal signed by warring parties in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo received a unanimous, but cautious welcome, on Thursday from local media.

United Nations staffers, however, were among those to warn of obstacles ahead.

Hundreds of delegates to a peace conference in Goma applauded the nine armed factions in Nord-Kivu province and the 13 in Sud-Kivu that all signed up on Wednesday to an "act of engagement", along with government and international facilitators.

"Now we must get down to work," said Alan Doss, the new chief of the UN mission in the DRC, Monuc.

Doss acknowledged that all the "practical details" of a ceasefire and demobilisation had yet to be sorted out by the joint technical commission provided for in the pact.

Nevertheless, not since the end of a war that ravaged the country from 1998 to 2003, bringing in half a dozen foreign armies, have the armed movements in eastern DRC made a collective, public commitment to peace.

"All the armed groups signed," Doss said. "I hope they will stick by their commitments."

Doss said Monuc, which already has posted 90% of its 17 000 peacekeeping troops in the ravaged east, planned to deploy them to create buffer zones in trouble-spots vacated by the rival sides.

The first movement to sign the framework accord in the capital of Nord-Kivu province was the one that haggled most over its content: renegade ex-general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

Some Congolese government officials see Nkunda as neighbouring Rwanda's Trojan horse on their mineral-rich territory.

'Only a ceasefire' at present

He commands about 4 000 men and presents himself as the defender of Congo's minority Tutsis, who are also the minority people in Rwanda, the prime targets of that small country's genocide in 1994, which claimed about 800 000 lives.

Despite the deal, "the intentions of the different parties remain unknown. For the moment, there is only a ceasefire", said a UN political analyst, who asked not to be named.

"Will there be penalties for those who rearm or who move?" he asked.

He was sceptical of the "good faith" of rival sides on disarmament until another aspect of Wednesday's text, simply called an "act of engagement" was implemented. This provides for legislation on an amnesty for "acts of war and insurrection".

Kinshasa's lively press was very prudent. Pro-government daily Le Forum des As warned of "the true face of the iceberg, Rwanda's (President) Paul Kagame.".

Uhuru, another daily close to the government, argued that peace would remain "pious hopes" without major foreign help, "the United States in the lead".

For the UN analyst, one of the biggest challenges lies in Sud-Kivu, where a plan to repatriate Congolese Tutsis will be "more difficult than in Nord-Kivu" because of deep-rooted tribalism, he said.

In the two provinces, violence and fear have driven more than a million people from their homes. Since August, however, Nord-Kivu has taken the brunt of fighting.

That has mainly involved clashes between the DRC army and Nkunda's men, but also tribal warriors of the Mai-Mai and armed Rwandan Hutus in exile.

Repatriation of fighters

US envoy Tim Shortly, who signed the act of engagement in the name of his country, said its commitments were complementary to those made regionally at Nairobi talks last November.

This provided for the voluntary or forced repatriation of foreign fighters, in particular Rwandan Hutus.

Shortly said that Kabila had committed himself to two processes: the Nairobi and Goma agreements, and had asked for help.

"The question is," he asked, "will the international community help carry them out?"

Washington, he said, was ready.

- AFP