JMC meets in Kampala

The Joint Military Commission (JMC), established under the Lusaka ceasefire accord, began meeting on Monday in the Ugandan capital Kampala, a Ugandan government official said. “The meeting started this morning and is now going on under the chairmanship of [Algerian General] Lalli Rachid,” Uganda’s Presidential Press Secretary Hope Kivengere told IRIN on Monday. Meanwhile, AFP quoted Ugandan State Minister for Foreign Affairs Amama Mbabazi as saying on Sunday that he expected all signatories to the agreement, including RCD rebels, to participate in the meeting. “RCD is entitled to two seats. It is up to them how they share it out,” Mbabazi said. This is the first substantive meeting of the JMC, which is responsible for monitoring implementation of the accord pending the deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation.