SADC adopts positive tone on peace prospects

The heads of state at a summit meeting of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in Mozambique on Wednesday adopted an optimistic tone on the prospects for peace when they said they had received new commitments from the Ugandan and Rwandan governments - in the wake of this week's clashes in Kisangani between troops from the two countries - that they will observe the terms of the Lusaka ceasefire. SADC had invited Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu to brief them on the fighting in Kisangani, eastern DRC, even though they were not official members of the community. Museveni says fighting resulted from "confusion" Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told journalists in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, that the clashes in Kisangani in eastern DRC were due to "confusion" and that both governments had launched investigations, news organisations reported. "We want to find out what caused it," the South African News Agency (SAPA) quoted Museveni as saying. He said the situation was "very quiet" since the two countries had signed a ceasefire on Tuesday. New army officers assigned to Kisangani Ugandan Army Commander Major General Jeje Odong and his Rwandan counterpart Brigadier Kayumba have been assigned to Kisangani, taking over from Ugandan Chief of Staff James Kazini and Rwandan Brigadier James Kabarebe, "with express orders to take control and oversee the implementation of the ceasefire", the Ugandan 'Monitor' newspaper reported. The two were jointly charged with reviewing the circumstances that led to the clashes and devising clear recommendations on how the crisis should be resolved, media sources reported. The Ugandan military has also denied Rwandan claims on Tuesday that they had captured Major Reuben Ikondere, security chief for Wamba dia Wamba, leader of the RCD-Kisangani faction that it supports, claiming instead that he was safe with Ugandan colleagues in Kisangani, news agencies reported. Human Rights Watch bemoans "callous disregard" for civilians Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch on Wednesday expressed grave concern at the widespread shelling and fierce fighting which had turned the streets of Kisangani, eastern DRC, into battlefields. It expressed particular concern that, with the headquarters of the RCD-Kisangani faction is at the Hotel Wagenia, in the centre of town, residents in this heavily populated area had been placed in a deadly crossfire zone. Dozens of civilians were reported dead and many more injured, in addition to the heavy military casualties, before Tuesday's truce was agreed. "The war had already reduced the population in Kisangani to grinding poverty, said Suliman Baldo, the Congo researcher at the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "The parties to the current fighting are placing civilians in mortal danger - with food, medical supplies and other essentials reaching dangerously low levels." The organisation condemned what it called the callous disregard for civilian life shown by Rwandan and Ugandan forces in Kisangani. "International humanitarian law provides for the protection of civilians and materials essential to their survival, including electric power, foodstuffs and drinking water," Baldo noted. He also urged the international community and humanitarian agencies to intervene more forcefully to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population in Kisangani. Civil society groups call for rapid deployment of peace-keepers In Kinshasa, the situation in Kisangani led to a coalition of 12 broad-based civil associations calling for a special session of the UN Security Council, and for it to "accelerate the dispatch of a buffer source to keep the peace", Reuters news agency reported. The Congolese groups also called on the EU and US to play a more direct role in the DRC peace process.