Peace prospects grow dimmer - EIU

The prospects for peace have grown dimmer over the past three months and will remain dim, as the latest ceasefire agreement - which came into effect on 14 April - is unlikely to hold, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has stated in its latest overview of the DRC. Though the combatants had reiterated their commitment to the Lusaka peace agreement, “actual progress towards a peaceful solution of the conflict is improbable because of the protagonists’ mutual distrust and the desire to pursue their military advantage,” the report said. The UN and other actors in the international community would continue to wait for signs of “serious commitment to peace” before deploying 500 military observers and 5,000 troops to protect them as approved by the Security Council in February, it said. In the event, Kinshasa “may ultimately find that pressure to implement the Lusaka accord is greatest from its own allies: Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia”, who appear “increasingly impatient with President Kabila’s prevarication over the peace process,” the report said.