Rebel leader says
conflict over commission
could revive Congo
violence
September 7, 1999
Web posted at: 12:45 AM EDT
(0445 GMT)
JOHANNESBURG, South
Africa (AP) -- Peace efforts in
the war-torn Democratic
Republic of Congo hit a new
snag Monday when a rebel
leader accused President
Laurent Kabila of violating a
peace accord brokered last
week and issued a veiled
warning that hostilities could
resume.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy, which has been fighting
to depose Kabila since August 1998, has objected to his
decision to appoint Lt. Gen Sylvestre Luesha as head of his
armed forces. The decision was announced Friday.
Luesha is an ethnic Mai Mai, who make up one of the groups
meant to be disarmed under a peace deal brokered in Lusaka
last week, the Rally for Democracy's chief negotiator Bazima
Karaha said in an interview Monday. The loose-knit group
has clashed with the rebels during the civil war.
Karaha warned that if Luesha were not removed from his
post, "We will carry on and disarm him".
A letter voicing the objection was sent to the Joint Military
Commission, which is overseeing the Congo cease-fire, but
no reply had been received, Karaha said.
"It is a threat. It is a violation. This man must be disarmed,"
he said.
Rival rebel leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba told reporters in
Pretoria that he agreed with Karaha that Luesha was a bad
choice, but said he would not go so far as to tell Kabila what
to do.
Karaha added that the cease-fire appeared to be holding.
"The guns are silent. We believe this should be the end of the
war in the Congo," he said.
Karaha, who flew in to South Africa on Saturday to hold talks
with President Thabo Mbeki, was Kabila's former foreign
minister. He joined the rebels after accusing Kabila of
nepotism and corruption and failing to chart a clear political
course.
The civil war in the former Zaire, which erupted a year after
Kabila overthrew its former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, has
drawn in forces from five other countries. Zimbabwe,
Namibia and Angola have been propping up Kabila's regime,
while Uganda and Rwanda have been supporting the rebels
trying to overthrow him.
Wamba encouraged South Africa's continuing involvement in
the peace process.
"The emphasis in the DRC has shifted from fighting to
negotiation, an area in which South Africa has rich
experience," he said.
|
