Presidents Kabila, Museveni to push for peace in Ituri

The presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, Joseph Kabila and Yoweri Museveni, have "expressed their readiness to launch the Ituri Pacification Committee after consultations with their stakeholders", Museveni's press secretary, Mary Okurut, was quoted as telling the Ugandan government-owned daily, The New Vision, on Monday. The announcement followed a two-day tripartite summit Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa convened in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, aimed at resolving differences between Kabila and Museveni. The committee is an institution created by the Luanda Agreement of 6 September 2002 between the governments of Uganda and DRC to organise a conference of all stakeholders in the Ituri crisis. This meeting would include representatives of the two governments, the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), different ethnic groups of the region; political, military and social forces in the region, as well as observers from the government of Angola, and the African Union. An Ituri peace conference was to have opened on 17 October but has been delayed. The committee's work will end, if successful, with the establishment of administrative and military arrangements acceptable to all in the region. It has not been decided who will chair the proceedings of the conference. The Luanda accord, brokered by Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, also arranged for the withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the DRC. Uganda has said that only one of its army battalions remain in the troubled northeastern DRC city of Bunia, at the request of MONUC, and along the slopes of the Rwenzori mountains. Bunia has been wracked by an increase in economically and ethnically motivated violence in recent months. Kabila and Museveni also vowed to work together for overall peace the Great Lakes Region and to rejuvenate their relations. "Presidents Museveni and Joseph Kabila held discussions centred on the Great Lakes region and on the peace process in the DRC," Okurut was quoted as saying. "Their excellencies also reviewed the Luanda Agreement and reaffirmed their commitment to all the terms therein."