Tanzania urges DRC, Uganda, Rwanda to renegotiate

The Tanzanian government has urged DRC to ask Uganda and Rwanda to go back to the “drawing board” and work on the Lusaka peace accord “so that it can be implemented more smoothly”. The ‘Guardian’ newspaper quoted Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete as saying that the accord signatories “could go back to the drawing board if necessary”. “If the solution towards the implementation of the peace pact can be obtained through renegotiation, as demanded by the Kinshasa government, then Tanzania supports it,” he said. Kabila indicated last week his country would not in any way implement the accord noting that “new developments had emerged” since its signing last year. Kikwete said on Friday his country accepted Kabila’s demand for the “renegotiation” of the pact in the light of new developments caused by the delay in implementing the agreement. He said Tanzania’s position on the Congo problem was still that adopted by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit held in Lusaka last week to try to revive the peace pact. The SADC summit had asked the DRC government to abide by the peace agreement and give necessary cooperation to the UN peace observers currently in the Congo. Uganda and Rwanda have responded negatively to Kabila’s call for renegotiation. Last week DRC officially suspended the Lusaka peace agreement, but allowed the planned deployment of UN troops.