Countries Involved In DRC Willing To Sign Cease-fire
January 20, 1999
By Amos Malupenga And Goodson Machona
Lusaka - All the countries directly involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fighting are willing to sign a cease-fire agreement, disclosed President Frederick Chiluba yesterday.
President Chiluba said Namibian President Sam Nujoma, who on Monday hosted a mini summit attended by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu and Angolan defence minister Pedro Sebastiao at Windhoek's Safari Court Hotel, telephoned yesterday to inform him about the development.
He said embattled DRC President Laurent Kabila and the rebels fighting to oust him were not represented at the meeting.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported yesterday that President Kabila held a separate meeting with Angolan President Eduardo Dos Santos in Luanda. Details of the meeting were not known by yesterday.
President Chiluba disclosed that he would soon consult SADC heads of state before fixing a date when the cease-fire agreement, conceived in August last year, would be signed.
President Chiluba did not state when the meeting would be held but Namibian foreign affairs minister TheoBen Gurirab told the BBC that it was a matter of weeks.
Gurirab further said the mini summit, which was called by President Museveni, discussed possibilities of a peace keeping force going to oversee the implementation of the cease-fire.
"They (the peace keeping force) are not going to replace the foreign troops but will merely ensure that all the foreign troops withdraw from the Democratic Republic of Congo," Gurirab said.
President Nujoma, in an interview with South Africa's Channel Africa, said time had come for all the belligerents in the Congo conflict to "find a common ground and act decisively".
Summit To Determine Uganda Congo Pullout
January 21, 1999
Kampala - Uganda awaits the resolutions of the forthcoming Lusaka summit before considering pulling out its troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo, state minister for foreign affairs (regional cooperation), Mr. Amama Mbabazi said yesterday.
He said the meeting in Namibia was to finalise the negotiation for a ceasefire. He said Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, mandated by the Southern African Development and Cooperation to coordinate a peaceful resolution of the Congo crisis, will soon call a summit in Lusaka to discuss the ceasefire. He said the five countries that attended the meeting were the core countries with troops in the Congo.
He said the meeting agreed that there was need for President Sam Nujoma of Namibia to report to Chiluba. "The primary belligerents in the Congo are RCD rebels and Kabila. They were not party to the Namibia talks. Both have to be brought on board in the forthcoming Lusaka talks for a final resolution on ceasefire," Mbabazi said. "If the Lusaka meeting agrees on a ceasefire and troops withdrawal, then Uganda will have to pull out," Mbabazi said.
Leaders of Uganda, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Angolan Defence minister Monday agreed to sign a ceasefire, along with the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy. News reports quoted Nujoma as saying the rebels would sign a separate document.
Mandela to visit Uganda, Germany and Switzerland
06:24 a.m. Jan 20, 1999 Eastern
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 20 (Reuters) - South African President Nelson Mandela will visit Uganda next week and is expected to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an official spokesman said on Wednesday.
Mandela is to leave for Uganda on Monday as part of a six-day overseas trip that will include stops in Germany and Switzerland, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
An official said the latest efforts to persuade all parties to stop fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, would be on the agenda in Uganda.
''The Congo will be an issue, but other bilateral matters will also be discussed,'' he said.
Uganda, along with Rwanda, backs the rebels fighting to oust President Laurent Kabila and has admitted to having troops in his country.
Mandela has for several months tried to persuade Kabila and his allies Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Chad to sign a ceasefire with the rebels, Uganda and Rwanda.
A meeting this week in the Namibian capital Windhoek produced a tentative agreement to sign a ceasefire, but a date for the signing still has to be set.
The statement said expanding trade ties between South Africa and Uganda would also be discussed. |
