DRC Cease-fire 'Getting Closer'
February 2, 1999
By By Christof Maletsky
Windhoek - It is only "a matter of time" before all the belligerents in the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict, including President Laurent Kabila and the rebels, sign a cease-fire agreement, says Namibian Foreign Affairs Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab.
Gurirab's prediction came a day after a brief visit to Namibia by Kabila on Sunday. All the countries involved in the DRC war have agreed on a draft cease-fire deal hammered out in Windhoek on January 18.
But the two main protagonists in the six-month war have yet to put their signatures to the document. During his Windhoek stopover the DRC leader was briefed by Namibian President Sam Nujoma on the January 18 meeting.
Yesterday Gurirab said in a press statement that since then progress had been made and that Kabila had "firmly expressed his complete endorsement of the conclusions and recommendations" of that meeting. "With this significant progress having been achieved and embraced by the warring parties in the DRC, the only remaining matters are of a technical nature particularly in terms of, for a start, the setting of a definitive date for the speedy signing of the cease-fire agreement."
Gurirab said that after the signatures of all the belligerents, including Kabila and the rebels, were fixed on the cease-fire agreement, joint teams from the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity would be called upon to manage and control the implementation process.
Once everyone had signed, he said, the practical modalities relating to the dates for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the DRC would be handled by the secretary-generals of the UN and OAU, in co-operation with the DRC government and other parties to the conflict.
"Every effort must be made in earnest to avoid any delays which can only create a vacuum. This may invite injection of extraneous issues bedeviling the peace process," he said. Gurirab said urgency and reason demanded that regional leaders spared no efforts in agreeing on an early date for the signing of the cease-fire agreement.
After his 90-minute visit on Sunday, Kabila told the NBC TV: "We can sign a cease-fire, but when? We are still waiting for Mr. (Frederick) Chiluba to invite us (to Lusaka)." Chiluba has been acting as the coordinator for regional talks on a cessation of hostilities in the former DRC. Nujoma said Kabila had also briefed him on the "political and military situation" in the DRC.
Namibia, along with Angola and Zimbabwe, has been fighting alongside Kabila's troops against the rebels since the conflict broke out last August. |
