Parties sign peace deal

All parties to the nearly five-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed a peace deal on Wednesday, amid warnings that the biggest challenges in ending the conflict are yet to come. At the final session of talks in South Africa, the DRC government, rebel movements, political opposition parties and representatives of civil society agreed to set up a transitional government to oversee democratic elections after two years. But DRC President Joseph Kabila, who is to retain his post in the new administtration supported by four vice-presidents from rebel groups and the civilian opposition, was not present to sign the accord in person. The agreement was hailed by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the Congolese people's "best chance of restoring peace" in their country. But in an address delivered on his behalf by his special envoy, Moustapha Niasse, Annan warned: "No one should imagine that the all-inclusive agreement will implement itself. The most complex and difficult tasks still lie ahead." While the parties have agreed that rebel fighters should be merged within a new national army, key questions remain over the command structure of an integrated force. Rebel leaders also expressed fear about going to the capital, Kinshasa, and called for a neutral international force to protect them. Annan said the most urgent task was to address the continuing conflict in northeast DRC, where "the unfortunate population are in a situation that is arguably even worse now than it was before the agreements were signed." South African President Thabo Mbeki, the mediator in the DRC crisis and current president of the African Union, also singled out tensions in the northeastern region as a major threat to the peace deal. "Nothing whatsoever can justify this continued killing of the Congolese people, even as you who represent the overwhelming majority of these masses, have gathered here to make the solemn statement that - let there be peace, national unity and national reconciliation," Mbeki told delegates at Sun City.