Gov't establishes peace commission with Uganda

The governments of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have set up a joint commission to establish peace in the war-torn Ituri region of northeastern DRC and along the countries' shared border.

According to Vital Kamerhe, the DRC's commissioner general in charge of peace in the Great Lakes region, the commission would set up a framework within which both countries could work together to establish peace in Ituri. It would also monitor the Rwenzori mountain area.

He said the commission was a way of avoiding a vacuum in the region after the withdrawal of Ugandan troops. Both countries fear that such a vacuum could lead to further chaos between the local Hema and Lendu ethnic groups, which regularly clash, as well as rebel groups such as the Uganda-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani-Mouvement pour la liberation (RCD-K-ML).

The UN special representative to the DRC, Amos Namanga Ngongi, expressed concern last Wednesday about the movement of troops belonging to RCD-K-ML around the town of Bunia.

The Congolese government sees Uganda's participation in the initiative as a means of reparation for its occupation of the region. "Uganda has had control of this region for over four years and Uganda has to repair the damage," said Kamerhe.

The commission will bring together experts from both countries as well as civil society and military groupings from the region. The Ugandan delegation arrived in Kinshasa on Thursday.

It would also submit a report to Angola, as stipulated in the peace accord signed on 6 September between President Joseph Kabila and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, said Kamerhe.

The withdrawal of Ugandan troops from the DRC has almost been completed, except for two battalions which remain in Bunia, with the permission of both the Congolese government and the United Nations Mission in the Congo (known as MONUC).