Ceasefire agreement "generally holding"

A ceasefire between combatants in the DRC conflict has been generally holding since it came into effect on Friday, 14 April, the Joint Military Commission (JMC) charged with implementing the Lusaka peace agreement stated on Monday. The belligerents had agreed to the new plan in the Ugandan capital Kampala last week. There were one or two minor incidents in Equateur Province, around Basankusu and on the River Congo near
Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of Congo), but "generally, in the whole area, the ceasefire is holding," Acting JMC Chairman
Brigadier-General Timothy Kazembe told IRIN. "We are trying to tie it up there in Equateur ... There have been no major violations, but when we iron out everything, when we get a 100 percent hold, then we will declare ourselves pleased," the Zambian officer added. Rwandan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Ndahiro said on Monday that, despite the shelling of its
positions around Mbuji-Mayi and Kabinda in East Kasai Province
(unconfirmed by the JMC), the RPA was still observing the ceasefire.

As of Monday afternoon, the JMC had also received copies of the orders to ground troops to cease hostilities from all parties except the DRC government and the rebel Mouvement de liberation du congo (MLC), Kazembe said. Once it received such documentation, of which it was confident, the JMC would move on to collect detailed information of troop location, strength and armaments on the ground in order to provide for detailed,
area-by-area disengagement plans, he added.