Kisangani demilitarisation begins

Uganda and Rwanda have reportedly removed heavy weaponry from frontline offensive positions in Kisangani as part of a demilitarisation plan agreed upon after recent clashes between the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) in the northeastern Congolese city. The arms removed included tanks, artillery and ballistic missiles but the withdrawal of troops had yet to commence, the semi-official Ugandan newspaper ‘New Vision’ reported on Monday. A second phase of demilitarisation, due to start on Monday and last four days, would involve moving troops from the city centre and the UPDF camp at La Forestiere, it said. The UN Observer Mission in the DRC (MONUC) was due to chair a meeting of commanders on Monday at which the final modalities of the withdrawal would the thrashed out, the report added. The demilitarisation of Kisangani should serve as a model for the future withdrawal of troops from other areas of the DRC, Uganda’s Minister of State for Regional Cooperation Amama Mbabazi stated last week. “It is hoped that in carrying out this implementation plan, the exercise will also serve as a future model of forces on the wider Congo scene,” Mbabazi said in a statement carried by the ‘New Vision’.

Meanwhile, tension is reported to be still high in Kisangani, with Uganda having threatened to destroy the power station if the civil administration of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) did not restore electricity to its headquarters and those sections of the city controlled by the UPDF, according to military sources in the DRC. In addition, the leader of the rebel Mouvement de liberation du congo (MLC) is pushing its case that the local government of the town be democratically elected - as stipulated in the agreement between Uganda and Rwanda that followed serious clashes in the city last August - rather than nominated by the RCD, they said. Considering the potential wrangles, MONUC was considering the deployment of administrative, humanitarian and human rights workers to the city, informed sources told IRIN. The UN mission has also been emphatic in its insistence that it would not assume any responsibility for civil administration, the provision of essential services or the maintenance of law and order, since the city already had an operational civil administration, they added.