A Rwandan-Congolese peace deal brokered by South Africa was clinched, but war is far from over, writes Gamal Nkrumah Last week, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Joseph Kabila and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame signed a peace deal in South Africa. Hailed as "a demonstration of African solidarity" by Congolese President Kabila, the agreement stipulates that the Congolese government forces round up, disarm and repatriate Rwandan opposition forces based in eastern Congo before the end of October in exchange for a withdrawal of Rwandan and Ugandan forces currently stationed in the DRC. Hopes for the cessation of hostilities were boosted when the African countries embroiled in the Congolese conflict indicated their willingness to collaborate more closely in ending the bloodshed. "We will do everything to implement what has been agreed," declared South African President Thabo Mbeki. "No more blood must run," Kabila concurred, referring to the four-year Congolese conflict which has so far claimed the lives of an estimated 2.5 million people. Joseph Kabila took office after the assassination, in January 2001, of his father the late Congolese President Laurent Kabila. All parties concerned now wish to see greater participation by the United Nations which jointly brokered the deal along with the South Africans. The world body welcomed the signing of the agreement. The UN "looks forward to discussing the practical modalities with the parties concerned", explained UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard. Under the agreement, Congo and Rwanda agree that the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and South Africa will work as joint peace brokers in the coming months. Critics argue that the UN force in the Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, is ineffective and will be unable to round up, let alone disarm, Rwandan opposition forces in the DRC. The precise number of Rwandan opposition armed troops to be disarmed is unknown. The agreement comes against the backdrop of the Rwandan-Congolese dispute at the International Court of Justice at The Hague. The Court recently began hearing a suit filed by DRC against Rwanda for its role in the four-year Congolese civil war. The United States has taken a keen interest in the search for peace in the Congo. The US holds the purse-strings, and South Africa is not a donor nation. However, Washington has declined to intervene directly in facilitating peace talks as it has done in some other major African conflicts such as the conflict in Sudan. The US, closely aligned to Uganda and Rwanda, put pressure on Congolese President Joseph Kabila to distance himself from Zimbawe. "US President George W Bush supports and appreciates the key roles played by South African President Thabo Mbeki and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and their capable teams in achieving this agreement," declared Claire Buchan, the White House deputy press secretary. Washington, Buchan added, "will work with the signatories" to effect a lasting peace in the Congo. Click to view caption The South Africans, widely viewed as sympathetic to the Rwandan position, took a more direct and high-profile role in the Congolese peace talks. Apart from fostering closer ties between the Congolese and Rwandan authorities, the South Africans have hosted the Inter- Congolese Dialogue in South Africa. South Africa also has a close working relationship with Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe. These four nations are often referred to as the Allied Forces, and all are members of the 14-member SADC. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is a 14-state economic and political grouping that covers the southern portion of Africa. Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean armies had been authorised by the SADC to intervene in the DRC troubles and assist Joseph Kabila's beleaguered government. However, critics charge that the Zimbabwean and Angolan armies, as well as those of Uganda and Rwanda are looting the Congo's fabled mineral wealth. "We were invited by the Congolese government in the immediate aftermath of the external aggression in 1998 when the Congolese capital Kinshasa was besieged by Congolese opposition groups backed by Rwandan forces. We stopped the Rwandan forces and their local Congolese proxies from storming Kinshasa. We will withdraw if there is an effective UN peace-keeping force to replace the allied forces. Our troops shall remain stationed in the Congo until the Rwandan and Ugandan forces pull out, or, if and when the Congolese government asks us to leave," Kufa Chinoza, a minister from the Zimbabwean embassy in Cairo, told Al-Ahram Weekly. The Rwandan opposition forces in eastern Congo have flatly rejected the deal and are refusing to play the role of the sacrificial lamb. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group representing ethnic Hutu Rwandan forces exiled in the DRC, dismissed the DRC-Rwanda peace deal. They warned that they would not be forcibly returned to Rwanda and that they will resist any attempt to disarm them. One of the key stipulations of the Rwanda-DRC deal is that the Congolese and Rwandan forces cooperate to hunt and disarm Rwandan Hutu armed opposition groups such as the FDLR and the Interhamwe forces active in the eastern Congo. FDLR, part of the Rwandan opposition Alliance for Democracy and Reconciliation- Igihango, warned that the peace deal was a "delaying manoeuvre" by the Rwandan government. FDLR says that the Rwandan government plans to "exterminate" the Hutu population, using the round-up as a pretext for muzzling political dissent. The movement in an official statement vowed to uphold what they say is their "legitimate right to self- defence". Rwanda has traditionally claimed that its troops are stationed in Congo in self-defence. The Rwandans say they created a buffer zone to protect them from ex-Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and the ethnic Hutu Interhamwe who make incursions into Rwanda from adjacent Congolese territory. Rwanda also assists armed Congolese opposition groups. The Rwandan-supported Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and the Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), the two main Congolese opposition groups, supported the DRC- Rwanda agreement. Significantly enough, Bizima Karaha, former Congolese foreign minister under the late Congolese President Laurent Kabila and current RCD security chief, said that at least the Congolese government has now publicly acknowledged that it had in the past armed the Hutu Interhamwe groups. The ethnic and tribal composition of eastern Congo greatly resembles that of Rwanda and Burundi. Indeed, the Banyamulenge are ethnic Tutsi residing in the eastern part of the DRC. Other eastern Congolese groups are ethnically and linguistically related to the Hutu. Most of these groups have an uneasy relationship with the Congolese government. The MLC holds sway in the northern third of Congo leaving the RCD to control eastern and central parts of the country. The two groups must cooperate with the Congolese authorities if the agreement between the DRC and Rwanda is to succeed. Moreover, infighting complicates matters. Over the years, the RCD has split into rival, sometimes warring groups. The RCD-ML (Liberation Movement) of Mbusa Nyamisi and the RCD-National of Roger Lumbala split from the mainstream Rwandan-backed RCD. The original RCD is still allied to Rwanda but was not part of the deal reached in South Africa in April. Eastern Congo is currently ravaged with bitter fighting between the Rwandan-backed RCD and the Banyamulenge militia of Patrick Masunzu. These rivalries and disputes muddled national reconciliation talks at the Inter- Congolese Dialogue in South Africa and threaten to ruin the recently clinched Rwandan-Congolese peace deal. For the agreement between the DRC and Rwanda to succeed, the South Africans and other peace brokers must ensure that the Rwandan-Congolese rapprochement be matched by Congolese national reconciliation.
