Timing of withdrawal key issue

A draft technical agreement due to be considered by defence and foreign ministers on Monday called for combatants to observe a troop standstill on all fronts from the moment an agreement came into force, the deployment of a multinational peacekeeping force under UN, OAU and Southern African Development Community (SADC) control in rebel-held areas, the withdrawal of foreign armies and the disarming of rebel groups, media sources reported.

A key stumbling block was understood to be the timing of troop withdrawals once a ceasefire was declared, with DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila and his allies - notably Zimbabwe - demanding that Rwanda and Uganda withdraw first and the latter insisting that all foreign troops should withdraw at the same time, news agencies reported. “It’s easy enough to sign a ceasefire, but difficult to make it stick”, one regional analyst told IRIN on Monday, adding that the stakes were high and the prevailing feeling was that a failure of the process could result in quite a serious escalation in fighting.