Summit On DRC Claims Success

Maputo, Mozambique - The summit on the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that ended in Maputo Monday decided to push ahead with a programme of disarming "residual forces", and implementing the "Kampala Plan", under United Nations supervision.
According to the Mozambican President, Joaquim Chissano who hosted the summit, President Laurent-Desire Kabila of the DRC had told the summit that he was prepared to study ways of improving relations with the UN Mission in Congo or MONUC.

"During today's discussions, it became clear that the DRC is ready to study and d solve the pending aspects of its relationship with MONUC", said Chissano, "so that this organisation can play its monitoring role.

"This time it was clear that there is an undertaking from both sides as regards this matter. That was something missing at the previous meeting," Chissano is quoted by the Mozambican news agency as telling a closing news conference on Monday night.

"Kabila's opening (to MONUC) is an important step forward that has been achieved", he said at the news conference also attended by South African President, Thabo Mbeki, who convened the summit.

"Many problems were raised in this meeting concerning the relationship between the DRC and MONUC, particularly problems of the security of UN personnel, logistical issues, and others which seemed major problems, but which can be solved through dialogue".

The Kampala Plan envisaged that all the belligerents in the Congolese conflict would withdraw 15 km from the positions they held immediately prior to signing the July 1999 cease-fire in Lusaka.

The earlier Maputo summit held on 16 October had reiterated this position, and Uganda and Rwanda unilaterally promised much greater withdrawals of 100 and 200 km, respectively.

Chissano told journalists that a start had been made to these withdrawals, but they were halted when further attacks took place.

He said that President Paul Kagame of Rwanda had informed the summit that Rwandan troops had begun their withdrawal, but further fighting then broke out. The Mozambican president was not specific, but presumably this refers to the Congolese government offensive in the south-east of the country round the town of Pepa.

The Rwandans then claimed that the withdrawal could only take place under "verifiable conditions".

That meant a United Nations supervisory role. Chissano said that Kabila's government was now open to such monitoring by the MONUC.

The previous attempts at disengagement had broken down, Chissano added, because nobody was supervising the withdrawals. "This commitment by the DRC and by MONUC will satisfy both sides", he claimed. "It's been seen that the process needs to be followed by the United Nations".

As for the disarmament of "residual forces", including the Rwandan Interahamwe militia, responsible for much of the genocide of 1994, this would be discussed in detail during a meeting of defence ministers of the countries involved on Wednesday in Lusaka.

Mbeki said that, although the two latest summits had taken place in Maputo, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba remains the official mediator, and he has been sent reports on all the meetings that he has not attended.

Pending matters would be discussed in Lusaka, stressed Chissano, "and all sides have agreed to co-operate".

Also present at the summit were presidents Laurent Kabila of the DRC and his ally Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and the main backers of the Congolese rebel movements, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

Two of Kabila's other allies sent lower-level representatives - Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob, and Angolan Defence Minister Kundi Paihama.

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