Friday 16 January 2009

SUR LES TRACES D'OBASANJO ENCORE

UN-backed talks in DR Congo making slow progress, envoy tells Security Council


Special Envoy Olesegun Obasanjo addresses Security Council on Great Lakes Region15 January 2009 – Tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda are beginning to thaw as on-going peace talks, aimed at ending fighting in the east of the DRC between the Government and the main rebel militia in the region, are making slow progress, the United Nations envoy facilitating negotiations told the Security Council today.
The UN-backed talks between the Government of the DRC and the mainly Tutsi group known as the National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP) began in Nairobi last month in a bid to end the bloody conflict, which has uprooted an estimated 250,000 people since late August on top of the 800,000 who were already displaced in the region, mainly in North Kivu.
“Much remains to be done, but by comparison with where the eastern DRC and the region found themselves on 7 November 2008, I am happy to report some progress,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Olusegun Obasanjo, told the Security Council.
In his briefing to the 15-member Council, the Special Envoy reported that cooperation between DRC and Rwanda, whose troops were accused of fighting alongside rebels in the Kivu provinces, had improved, noting that “in November, relations between Kinshasa and Kigali had sharply deteriorated.”
He said that DRC and Rwanda have agreed on a military plan to put pressure on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed militia involved in clashes in North Kivu where the national army (FARDC), the CNDP, and other rebel groups such as the Mai Mai have fought in various permutations and shifting alliances.
Mr. Obasanjo also pointed to direct talks between the DRC and the CNDP as another advance in the move towards a cessation of hostilities, especially after the rebel group had accused the FARDC in November of incursions into areas it had vacated and asked the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUC) to occupy.
“The atmosphere between the two delegations has tended to ease, with some confidence beginning to be built and the parties increasingly working together directly,” said Mr. Obasanjo, adding that although Goma – the capital of North Kivu – faces a dire humanitarian crisis, the threat from a military takeover by the CNDP has receded.
The two sides also settled on a document establishing the ground rules for substantive discussions, slated to start later this month, and stating the desired outcome of the dialogue should incorporate the January 2008 Goma agreement, which included a commitment by rebels to withdraw their troops and to either disarm or join the brassage process, whereby ex-combatants from armed groups are retrained to form part of FARDC.
The Envoy stressed that, “This is critical, as it reaffirms the parties’ commitment to the principles of the Goma process, but [also] calls for new implementing mechanisms, as well as for a comprehensive agreement addressing the root causes of the conflict.”
“The momentum for peace generated so far, cannot, must not and will not be allowed to die,” said Mr. Obasanjo.
Meanwhile in Nairobi the third session of the peace talks was adjourned until 25 January by the Co-Mediator and African Union Special Envoy, Benjamin Mkapa.
In his closing remarks to the two delegations, Mr. Mkapa said that “when we gathered on 7 January this year, to commence proceedings on the Third Session, we were acutely aware of the challenges and obstacles that lay ahead.”
“I am very pleased to note that we have made remarkable progress by adopting the ground rules that will guide the noble task of substantive dialogue to resolve the crisis,” he added.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=29557&Cr=congo&Cr1=obasanjo

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The president of the United Nations General Assembly has accused Israel of violating international law with its war on Gaza in which almost 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, nearly half of them civilians.
What else has happened in Congo? Member of ICC RDC with Joseph Kabila has started the same crimes. So what is to be negociated in Nairobi? It would be better to turn this into a tribunal to unveil crimes committed instead of hoping on diplomacy. As longs as MONUC is a tool of China there will be nothing changing. China sits in the security council and blocks whatsoever initiative to settle things.
L.

Anonymous said...

Indeed, there is something wrong but the problem is that EU with France in the first position don't like Jews for so said "Christ sake" and because they are controlling Jerusalem?! Actually, the petrol is also the main topic and not at all, unfortunately, the sympathy for Palestinians and their sake.
This also is the eternal struggle between the three religions. I am still wonder how the world could be if Jesus and Mohamed haven't existed.

Now for DRC, the situation is reversed. EU forces, here I mean MONUC, are supporting FARDC and they trained them not for Chinese but for their sake since China is working for them in Africa.
It's quite well understandable that they can't admonish their own employees like Kabila and others since they put them on power in DRC with the tricky democratic elections.

Let's say that if the majority of African countries, particularly their population like in the Arabic countries, were organizing demonstrations and rallies urging to stop killings in DRC, I am sure things could be quite different.

Instead, we see EU - France are quick to send humanitarian NGO's and are willing to send their task forces to stop CNDP and not FARDC and FDLR.
Just like in Rwanda in 1994 when EU-France rushed to save the FAR and InteraHamwe with a just-on-time actions to settle them in DRC-Zaire!!

Bagambiki

Anonymous said...

Aljazeera:
UPDATED ON:
Friday, January 16, 2009
22:59 Mecca time, 19:59 GMT
News Middle East
DRC rebel fighters declare truce
A quarter of a million civilians have been displaced by the fighting in the east of DR Congo [AFP]

Commanders from a breakaway group of predominantly Tutsi rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have declared a ceasefire.

Colonel Esaie Munyakazi, a spokesman for National Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP), declared on Friday an immediate end to fighting against government troops.

"We, members of the high command of the CNDP forces, in the name of the officers and the fighters, solemnly declare before God, the whole Congolese people, Africa and the world... the cessation of hostilities between the CNDP and the FARDC [Congolese armed forces]," he said.

The CNDP commanders said they were placing their forces at the disposal of the Congolese army high command "with a view to them being reintegrated into the national army".

The commanders were led by General Bosco Ntaganda, a top CNDP leader who last week broke away from the Tutsi rebel movement's founder, General Laurent Nkunda.

It is unclear whether Nkunda is supporting the ceasefire and subsequent moves to reintegrate fighters within government forces.

Before the CNDP split, rebel fighters had defeated the government army in Congo's eastern province of North Kivu, displacing a quarter of a million civilians and sparking a humanitarian emergency.

Last month, the United Nations' Security Council unanimously voted to renew its peacekeeping mandate in Congo for another year, amid accusations that both government soldiers and rebel fighters had carried out atrocities against civilians.

A dangerous situation for more war in Congo> Fatah and Hamas.
L.

Anonymous said...

Referring to last news, Ntaganda signed on behalf of CNDP(!?) agreements with government representatives of the RDC and Rwanda in the city of Goma.

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE50G01F20090117
(The last paragraph is insulting the CNDP leaders with irrelevant comments and lies:
Some human rights campaigners say they believe Ntaganda may have broken with Nkunda because he thought the CNDP leader was going to hand him over following a massacre of civilians at Kiwanja in November, after rebels led by Ntaganda took the town.)

http://lesoir.be/actualite/monde/rdc-le-cndp-annonce-la-fin-de-2009-01-16-682370.shtml

Does he have allowance and enough credentials to do so because he decided to run alone? How can he pretend he represents the whole CNDP when he decided to kill it?

Unless I am very wrong, Ntaganda's CNDP version from split of the original is going to a straight Hara-kiri, a quick suicide.
After all, the cessation of hostilities is running since December and FARDC are defeated though there is a clear revenge spirit in preparation.

With some of his fellows officers, the Ntaganda's decision was so quick and without fair preparation we can't understand its foundation unless (again), of course, the deal was running hidden since a long time ago, several months.

Reasonably, what really has changed from the last situation to justify such decisions from Ntaganda? Nothing is said about that issue. Did the Kabila's government change its policies? No, as afar as things are today.

Worse, the chief of military staff surrendered by deciding to throw CNDP in the trash/rubish basket and to make it out of use with his one ticket run.
The danger is that his action will end in dismantling the CNDP before the end of issues for what it has been created.

This could be one of most dangerous situations ever seen in Kivu. Did he dream of Barak Obama's mediation?
In fact, CNDP and Ntaganda could learn a bit from History, particularly from the American Civil War.

So, wait and see, and qui vivra, verra ...

Bagambiki