Ikela situation “coming to a head”

A special mission of the Joint Military Commission (JMC) that ended on 27 December secured agreement from the combatants to visit Ikela and Bokungu “for verification on the ground with a view to disengaging their troops,” a JMC statement received by IRIN has stated. The Zambian interim chairman of the special mission, Brigadier General Timothy Kazembe, has been reported by Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) as saying a deal was secured under which the UN and OAU would airlift supplies to allied troops, including Zimbabwean and Namibian soldiers, besieged by rebel forces at Ikela. The withdrawal of pro-government forces from Bokungu as a ‘quid pro quo’ has also been mooted. A military source in DRC told IRIN on Tuesday that operations at Ikela seemed to be “coming to a head”, and that the government allies insisted there would be an outcome in Ikela “one way or another” in days rather than weeks.

The JMC special mission, comprising the neutral members of the Joint Military Commission, namely the OAU, UN and Zambia, was also expected to meet shortly with the Mouvement de liberation du congo (MLC) of Jean-Pierre Bemba, and with the authorities of the Central African Republic and Republic of Congo, for consultations on the implementation of the Lusaka ceasefire accord, according to the JMC press statement.