Government condemns DRC ceasefire violations

The South African government has condemned “in the strongest possible terms” reports of weekend ceasefire violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A foreign affairs statement said it was reacting to news that DRC government forces had used tanks on Saturday to attack rebel positions 12 km from the southeastern town of Kabinda. It called on “all parties and signatories to the ceasefire agreement to put firm measures into place in order to prevent such actions, including the immediate implementation of the Joint Military Commission (JMC)”.

According to a DPA dispatch, DRC government forces backed by Zimbabwean troops and Rwandan Hutu rebels, launched the attack on Munyenga, 180 km southeast of the key government-held diamond city of Mbuji-Mayi. It said the fighting had taken place close to Kabinda, where Zimbabwean forces have been under siege since June, for control of a strategic section of the road to Mbuji-Mayi.

All sides have traded accusations of ceasefire violations since the agreement was signed in Lusaka, Zambia, in August. A senior Zambian official told IRIN on Monday that “in a ceasefire situation these violations are almost inevitable when people have been fighting for so long”.

He said a JMC meeting was scheduled for Sunday, and once the commission was operational, “it would take care of these violations and see who’s responsible”. Zambia is a permanent observer to both the JMC and the political committee charged with organising an internal political settlement.

However, a source close to the Rwandan military told IRIN on Monday that Kigali has been reinforcing its troops in the DRC and “they are not going to stop”. He said the Burundian army, in control of Monono to the northeast of Kabinda, had assisted in the ferrying of Rwandese units across Lake Tanganyika.