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CENTRAL AFRICA: Belligerents in DRC, Burundi told to accept responsibility

DAR ES SALAAM/NAIROBI, 6 May (IRIN) - President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania
and the head of the visiting United Nations Security Council delegation have
called on political leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
and Burundi to shoulder their responsibility for restoring peace in their
countries.

Speaking at a press conference in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, on
Saturday, both Mkapa and the French ambassador to the UN, Jean-David
Levitte, stressed that while the UN delegation would try to help coordinate
the peace processes, ultimately it was up to the leaders involved in the
conflicts to put the wellbeing of their people before personal interests,
and bring stability to the region.

Another UN delegate added that the possibility of imposing sanctions on the
warring parties had been raised as the international community was finding
the violence more and more "unacceptable".

Mkapa said the problems had arisen out of a lack of commitment to the peace
process. "It is the political leadership of Burundi, of all shades of
ideology, that have to put national interests above the jockeying for
positions, whether in a transition or in a final dispensation," he said.
At the moment, he added, delays in bringing peace were the result of leaders
concentrating on protecting their own positions, rather than trying to
support a lasting peace.

He said that leaders had to realise that "their people had suffered enough
and that they had a unique opportunity to restore a sense of national unity
and to give expression to independence, territorially".

"I would say the same of the Congolese dialogue too," he concluded.

Unlike many of DRC's neighbours, Tanzania does not have troops involved in
the conflict, although it has been accused of harbouring foreign armed
elements among the more than one million people who have sought refuge in
the country.

For his part, Levitte said that the UN echoed Mkapa's sentiments entirely,
and that while the Security Council could help leaders implement agreements
they had negotiated themselves, it had to be a joint effort. He said there
was "no room" in the region for those would not stop fighting, as there was
now real hope for peace.

More specifically, Levitte told reporters that the issue of foreign troops
in the DRC had been discussed with foreign ministers on the trip. As well as
disarming the Rwandan troops (ex-FAR) and Interahamwe still in the DRC,
Levitte said the idea of a temporary curtain of troops on the Congolese side
of the Rwandan border had been suggested by the Security Council and might
help address some of the security concerns in Rwanda.

He said the troops would work in a limited area and "in agreement" with the
troops of the DRC and "in participation" with observers from the UN mission
in the DRC (known by its French acronym, MONUC).

"And while we proposed that, we said that the same thing could be done for
the border of Burundi and the border of Uganda," he added. "This has been
approved not only by the government of the DRC but also by Uganda and
Rwanda." Military experts would work out the practicalities of how such a
buffer force would function, detailing the length of deployment, the extent
of territory each force would patrol and their working arrangements with
MONUC, Reuters reported on Friday.

While acknowledging the progress made, Levitte said the peace process was
"too slow" and, referring in particular to Burundi, with all elements of the
political spectrum represented in the transitional government, there was "no
reason" for the continued fighting, which he described as "meaningless".

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the British ambassador to the UN and member of the
Security Council delegation, stated that the international community was
finding those intending to persist in taking the path of violence more and
more "unacceptable". "The time has come for action in the region to convince
those that preserve the military option that it is not going to be the
answer for them or the region," he said.

Recalling the effectiveness of sanctions on the Angolan rebel group UNITA,
he continued: "It is time for these groups to realise that their leverage
and their choices are going to diminish and narrow if they don't take the
decision now to enter into negotiations."

The idea of sanctions, Levitte concluded, had indeed been suggested and
approved by the "ministers and signatories of the political committee", but,
ideally, would only be used as a way to punish those who refused to
implement deals they had signed.

Meanwhile:

* On Thursday 2 May, the UN team was in Luanda, Angola, to meet President
Jose Eduardo dos Santos and the political committee of the Lusaka ceasefire
agreement. Dos Santos told the delegation that he would use his influence to
help build peace in the DRC now that his own country's war appeared to be
over, news agencies reported.

* A meeting in Luanda on Thursday between the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement
congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement and
signatories to the Sun City accord did not produce any results, although the
two sides agreed to continue to engage in dialogue.

RCD Secretary-General Azarias Ruberwa reiterated his organisation's position
to Radio France Internationale on Friday that the Sun City agreement was an
exclusive deal made primarily between the Kinshasa government and the
Ugandan-backed rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) outside the
agreed bounds of the inter-Congolese dialogue.

* On Friday, the delegation was in Kampala, Uganda, to meet President Yoweri
Museveni and MLC leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who will serve as prime minister
in the DRC's new political order. According to Radio Uganda, Museveni
described the Sun City accord as a good foundation for peace, while
stressing that it needed to be broadened to include all parties to the
inter-Congolese dialogue.

Museveni told journalists that he had advised DRC President Joseph Kabila
and Bemba to be flexible on their agreement, and bring on board the other
armed and political opposition groups in the DRC in order to have an
all-inclusive transitional government. Museveni called for the unification
of the administration of the DRC, with the withdrawal of foreign armies from
the country, the organisation of elections and the rebuilding of state
structures, Radio Uganda further reported.

* The South African Foreign Affairs Department (FAD) objected on Friday to
any suggestion that its hosting of the inter-Congolese dialogue for two
months had been a waste of money, the South African SAPA news agency
reported. South Africa agreed to meet most of the expenses incurred by the
peace talks, estimated at about 40 million rand (US $3,827,751). An
additional 33 million rand ($3,157,895) will reportedly be paid by foreign
donors.

The FAD acting deputy director-general for Africa, Lindiwe Zulu, said the
South African government was still working out the final cost. "That people
should think that the Congolese were just there to party really upsets me,"
SAPA reported her as saying. "They were very serious and committed to the
talks."

* On Sunday, the UN delegation was in Burundi to meet President Pierre
Buyoya, Vice-President Domitien Ndayizeye and the presidents of the Senate
and National Assembly. The team urged Burundi's transitional government to
pursue political and social reform and appealed to its civil war foes to end
violence, according to Reuters, which also quoted Levitte as saying that the
Council would inform the IMF and the World Bank that economic aid for
Burundi was indispendable now that a transition was underway.

* Monday will be spent in Kigali to meet President Paul Kagame and Rwandan
authorities. A meeting will also be held with a delegation of Rwandan former
armed groups. On Tuesday, the team is due to return to UN headquarters in
New York.

[ENDS]

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