UNITA to be disarmed

The Angolan rebel movement UNITA could be among the armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be disarmed under the terms of the ceasefire agreement signed on Saturday in Lusaka by regional heads of state. A draft ceasefire document prepared for signing by regional foreign minister last week stated that the Joint Military Commission (JMC) - comprising representatives of the warring parties - shall, with the assistance of the UN and Organisation of African Unity (OAU), "work out mechanisms for the tracking, disarming and cantoning documenting of all armed groups in the DRC," including UNITA. The conditions are to be created "conducive to the attainment of the objective" which may include "the granting of amnesty and political asylum," a copy of the document received by IRIN said. According to the agreement's timetable, disarmament of non-signatory armed groups - which includes UNITA - is to take place 30 days and 120 days after the signing of the accord to coincide with the deployment of OAU observers and a UN peacekeeping force. "The JMC must sit down and work out how to do this," Cedric de Coning of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes told IRIN on Monday. "Unless it's voluntary, I don't see anybody being able to enforce disarmament. In that environment, in that bush, it's just impossible to do."