DR Congo - Rwanda: Hutu Rebel Group Opposes Pretoria Accord

While most reactions to the Tuesday agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda continued to be positive; an armed Hutu rebel group expressed opposition to the accord with combatants in eastern DRC.

In a statement on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), Alexis Nshimyimana, said that his group would oppose the Pretoria accord "and any other manoeuvre of its kind" until the Rwandan government agreed to "stop massacres of Hutu and Congolese populations and unconditionally withdraw its troops from the DRC and Burundi". It must also hold an inter-Rwandan dialogue and stop "demonising" political opposition, he added.

He said the government must officially recognise internal and external opposition groups, end human rights violations, and put in place a more equitable judicial system than the Gacaca traditional courts to achieve national reconciliation.

It must also bring to justice "all criminals in the FPR [Front Patriotique Rwandais, Rwandan President Paul Kagame's political movement]" and "allow the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to do its work instead of acting like a tribunal of victor over vanquished". Finally, he added, the government must free the thousands of Rwandans "rotting in prisons without case files", and stop compiling "never-ending lists" of people presumed to have participated in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

The FDLR describes itself as a political and military organisation whose goals are "to liberate Rwanda, plead in favour of the oppressed and the excluded, open a new era of peace, and bring back into the hands of citizens the planning and management of their lives". While information about the number and location of Hutu fighters is unclear, the DRC government and the FDLR cooperated in assembling and disarming some 3,000 combatants, who were handed over to UN authorities in September 2001.

Reactions more favourable to that of the FDLR, however, included the following:

RCD-GOMA

The secretary-general of the Rwandan-backed rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), Azarias Ruberwa Manywa, said consultations had been organised last week in South Africa with the help of South African President Thabo Mbeki, RCD-controlled RTNC radio reported from Goma on Thursday. Ruberwa said there were new and interesting proposals for resolving the DRC crisis, which had lasted far too long.

UDPS

Adrien Phongo, secretary-general of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) political opposition party of the veteran Congolese politician and former prime minister, Etienne Tshisekedi, told Radio France Internationale on Wednesday that the UDPS considered this accord to be “a step towards peace” in the DRC.

"From the beginning, the UDPS ... has called for all foreign troops to leave the DRC," he added. "Whether those troops leave all together or successively, the essential thing for the UDPS is for those troops to leave the DRC. The DRC is also demanding its territorial integrity; it wants to regain its sovereignty.”
Radio France recalled that the UDPS and several other DRC political opposition parties had formed the "Alliance pour la sauvegarde du dialogue intercongolais" with RCD-Goma to protest the accord signed in April in Sun City, South Africa, by Kinshasa, the Ugandan-backed Mouvement de liberation du Congo and a majority of political opposition groups and civil society organisations.

CANADA
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham termed the accord “an important step closer to peace”. He said it was only one of the components needed to achieve lasting peace, and that the inter-Congolese dialogue, which had not yet come to a fruitful conclusion, “must lead to an agreement that will include all the parties".

He added: "We expect that the commitments made by the two parties will quickly translate into concrete action to enable the Democratic Republic of the Congo to regain its sovereignty and Rwanda to re-establish security."
He pledged continue Canadian support for the peace process in the Great Lakes; and said it had already provided millions of dollars to this effort, including direct support for the inter-Congolese dialogue.

CHINA

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Kong Quan, said on Wednesday that his nation welcomed the accord, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported. "We hope all parties concerned earnestly abide by and implement relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the agreements reached among all parties, and jointly push forward the peace process in the DRC."

RUSSIA

The Russian foreign ministry also welcomed the agreement and praised South Africa's contribution to reaching it, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported. "Russia intends, together with other interested sides, to continue its active contribution to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in compliance with the UN Security Council resolutions," the news agency reported, citing the ministry’s statement.

MALAWI

Malawian President Bakili Muluzi described the agreement as a major breakthrough for the region in particular and Africa as a whole, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation radio reported. Speaking in Zomba on Wednesday on arrival from Pretoria, where he witnessed the signing of the agreement, Muluzi said that in his capacity as chairman of the Southern Africa Development Community, he would ensure that the two parties observed the accord. He added that presidents Joseph Kabila of DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda showed willingness to make the peace treaty work.

ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe pledged on Wednesday to withdraw its troops from the DRC if the deal aimed at ending the four-year-long war was implemented. "As soon as the Lusaka agreement is fulfilled, we will certainly withdraw our troops immediately," Stan Mudenge, the foreign minister, was quoted by the Associated Press (AP) as saying.

AP reported that the agreement was considered to be an extension of another peace accord signed by all warring parties in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, in 1999. Both accords call for Rwanda to pull out its estimated 30,000 soldiers if the DRC government agrees to round up, disarm and repatriate thousands of Rwandan rebels who have used the country as a base for attacks on Rwanda.

Mudenge would not comment on the number of Zimbabwean soldiers in the Congo, but estimates of 8,000 troops have been reported, according to AP; adding that their presence has been a drain on the already crippled Zimbabwean economy.

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