Human rights minister freed

Luaba Ntumba, the human rights minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and his delegation were released on Sunday following three days of detention by an ethnic Hema militia near the northeastern city of Bunia.

Accompanying Ntumba were Thomas Lubanga, the leader of the Union des patriotes congolais - a splinter faction of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K-ML)-, Lola Bile, Ntumba's press officer, and Nicaise Kibelbel, editor of 'Les Coulisses' newspaper. The four were taken hostage on Thursday and held in Madro, some 12 km outside Bunia.

"We spent three nights seated on a sofa, refusing to eat what they offered us, preferring to eat sugar biscuits," said Ntumba on return to the DRC capital, Kinshasa, on Sunday evening. "We were not harmed physically, but we were subjected to major psychological duress," he added, noting that everyone in the delegation was safe and sound.

The release of the hostages followed the intervention of Ugandan government officials who travelled to Bunia to negotiate with leaders of the Hema militia, known as the Front pour la Reconciliation et la Paix (FRP), who are opposed to the RCD-K-ML of Mbusa Nyamwisi. The FRP has accused the Kinshasa government of supplying Nyamwisi with logistical and military support.

Lubanga is a former head of the RCD-K-ML defence department.

The hostage-takers demanded the release of 10 of their colleagues who were reportedly taking part in a peace and reconciliation conference in Kinshasa, in exchange for Ntumba's delegation. The latter had travelled to Bunia to urge greater participation of ethnic chiefs in the Ituri peace conference.

According to DRC government spokesman Kikaya Bin Karubi, the hostage-taking was due to a misunderstanding among radical elements of the Hema militia who thought the 10 had been arrested. The 10 individuals, including a traditional chief, were flown back to Bunia.

While the liberation of the hostages would allow the Ituri peace conference in Kinshasa to continue, the withdrawal on Friday of the ethnic Lendu delegation has caused prospects to dim. The conference was halted when the minister was kidnapped.

Two of the ethnic groups in the Ituri region, the pastoral Hema and the agricultural Lendu, have frequently clashed over leadership in the region.

The UN envoy to the DRC has said that ongoing conflicts in Bunia are not simply ethnic in nature, but motivated by underlying political and economic interests.

"Everyone is convinced that this is not only an ethnic problem but also a political matter fuelled by economic interests," Ambassador Amos Namanga Ngongi, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative to the DRC, told a news conference in Kinshasa last week.

Uganda signed a peace deal with the DRC on 15 August, under which it would withdraw most of its troops remaining in the Congo.

The UN has reported that Uganda has since withdrawn 1,164 troops, but will temporarily maintain a battalion in Bunia to ensure order.