Rebels meet Mugabe

Rwandan-backed forces of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, a key ally of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government, have met for the first time to discuss prospects for peace and the political future of the DRC after three years of war, AP reported Sunday.

Upon returning to rebel-held eastern DRC from talks with Mugabe, RCD-Goma President Adolphe Onusumba was reported as saying he “sensed a genuine willingness on the part of Mugabe to end the conflict.”

However, he warned that a recent upsurge in fighting involving government-backed Rwandan forces and Congolese Mayi-Mayi militias in eastern DRC could threaten the peace deal.

“We requested Mugabe to advise Kabila to stop financing and arming the [Rwandan rebel militia] Interahamwe and sending the war to our territory,” Onusumba was quoted as saying. The Rwandan government holds the Interahamwe and former Rwandan military (ex-FAR) largely responsible for killing an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. The Interahamwe and ex-FAR fled to neighbouring DRC, then known as Zaire, to escape retaliation. “There is a danger of resumption of a full-scale warfare against the Interahamwe [and] we have the means and capacity to launch an all-out military assault,” Onusumba was quoted as saying.

According to AP, Onusumba said that members of his delegation also discussed with Mugabe the forthcoming inter-Congolese peace and reconciliation dialogue, due to begin on 15 October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The rebel delegation told Mugabe that Kabila’s proposal to hold national elections soon after the dialogue was impractical. Instead, they suggested establishment of a three-year transitional administration to prepare for democratic elections and to integrate rebel forces into the national army.

Zimbabwe has been a primary supporter of the DRC government, together with Angola and Namibia, in a war that broke out in August 1998 after rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda attempted to oust then-President Laurent-Desire Kabila, accusing him of threatening regional security by arming Rwandan and Ugandan rebels. Following Kabila’s assassination in January and the accession to power of his son, Joseph, key provisions of the 1999 Lusaka peace agreement were implemented, including the pullback of troops from frontline positions and the deployment of UN observers to verify the ceasefire.