Congo peace suffers a jolt

By M. S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, JUNE 6. The outbreak of fighting between Rwandan and Ugandan troops in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo yesterday once again brings to fore the extreme complexity of the problems around the peace process, as indeed the fragility of the peace process itself.

According to agency reports, the two sides fought ``artillery duels'' in which ``at least four people'' were killed.

Armed forces of these two countries intervened in the DRC, first to enable Mr. Laurent Kabila to capture power and later (in August 1998) in common opposition to the Government of Mr. Kabila by supporting contending rebel factions. Though the two countries backed rival factions of rebel movements with opposing perspectives and agendas, and the very perception of ``security interests'' of the two countries vis-a-vis the situation on the DRC's eastern borders, the stated rationale for intervention right from the beginning, differed sharply, their common opposition to the Kabila Government was supposed to override these differences.

Moreover, Rwanda had played a role in the struggle against ``dictatorship and misrule'' in Uganda, which culminated in the victory of the National Resistance Movement under Mr. Yoweri Museveni, who then became President. Indeed, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was a senior officer in Uganda's National Resistance Army and actively fought in the Ugandan liberation war.

However, these things have not helped to bridge the differences between the two countries. There have been clashes off and on between the former allies in and around Kisangani (Stanleyville of colonial Belgian Congo), deep inside the DRC territory, for months together, adding a new complexity to the ``ceasefire'' that is supposed to have come into existence following the signing of the Lusaka Accord by all the parties involved in the conflict in August last year.

Kisangani is the city from where all the foreign troops are supposed to withdraw, making it the first demilitarised city in the DRC. It is the city where the first contingents of the yet-to-be-formed U.N. Peace Keeping Force, likely to be from South Africa, are likely to be based. It is also the city from where the both the rebel factions were openly operating with the backing of their patrons who too facilitated visiting foreign journalists to file ``exclusive reports'' from rebel-held areas.

In a related development, Mr. Kabila met Mr. Kagame in Kenya on Saturday. The meeting between the two was hosted by President Daniel Arap Moi. This is the first time that Mr. Kabila and Mr Kagame met since August 1988, when Rwanda defied Mr. Kabila's call for the withdrawal of its armed forces and turned against the one whom it had helped to come to power in the DRC. According to a spokesperson for the Rwandan Government, Mr. Kabila assured Mr. Kagame that he would deal with the ``security concerns'' that brought Rwanda into war.

These remain the key issue.

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Section  : International
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