Nigerian, Ghana troops for DRC

African leaders are aiming to thrash out an understanding with the UN this week over the deployment of a peacekeeping force to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe presidential spokesman George Charamba told IRIN on Wednesday. "The thrust of the OAU (Organisation of African Unity meeting in Algeria) is making the UN make a commitment and do so timeously," Charamba said. "The indications we are getting are fairly promising." Nigerian, Ghanaian peacekeepers Troop contributions for a peacekeeping force have already been pledged by among others Nigeria and Ghana, the spokesman said. A UN funding commitment would enable the mobilisation of an interposing force and its deployment within the four months stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, he added. Charamba said the DRC Lusaka peace accord hinged on the goodwill of the warring parties to honour the accord: "It is not the signing itself that's significant but the political will of the belligerent forces to respect the ceasefire." He added: "The unwritten text at Lusaka relates to the very comprehensive interactions that have been taking place way before Lusaka between some of the belligerent forces - interactions that build goodwill and on the basis of which Lusaka was made possible." The spokesman suggested that the failure of the rebel forces to sign the peace agreement on Saturday was not unduly worrying. "On the ground, the forces firing on my people are not rebels," he said, a reference to Rwandan troops in eastern DRC. Disarmament "unrealistic" On the disarming of Ugandan and Rwandan rebels in the DRC, Charamba said that "was the responsibility of an OAU and UN peacekeeping force." But he added that a political settlement is necessary for all the armed disputes in the Great Lakes region. "What's recommended for the DRC equally holds for Rwanda and Uganda. Ultimately the solution is political," Charamba said. A senior diplomatic source in Harare told IRIN that Rwanda and Uganda "know their insistence on disarmament of their rebel groups in the DRC is unrealistic." The source added that Tanzania and Mozambique are involved diplomatically in a "post-DRC regional settlement."