Goma rebels say pressure can make ceasefire hold

Meanwhile, the RCD head of security and intelligence, Bizima Karaha, said his troops were holding their ceasefire from Friday as agreed in Kampala at the weekend. "We ordered our troops to observe it," he told IRIN. He claimed, however, that the government had launched major attack in Ikela and Katanga since the Kampala agreement. "We are committed to a cease-fire
agreement but if Kabila diverts from the agreement in any way, we are ready to fight. There is doubt about that. At the moment we are respecting the ceasefire; let's wait and see how the other side reacts," Karaha said. The RCD executive added in a statement broadcast from Goma that it believed pressure from the international community and his main allies would force DRC President Laurent Kabila to stick to the terms of a
ceasefire and military disengagement plan agreed in Kampala last Sunday. "The pressure is such that the ceasefire agreed last July and August in Lusaka, which has never been respected, will perhaps be this time," the statement said. Kinshasa has denied the allegations while affirming that it would respond to any attack, news organisations reported.