PRIORITIES FOR A LASTING PEACE ACCORDING TO LAURENT NKUNDA

A few years ago, when the CNDP was in Nairobi discussing with the Kinshasa government, after the latter suffered successive defeats at the hand of the former, this is how Laurent Nkunda explained the meaning of the negotiations. We know how they brutally ended in 2009 with his arrest and Ntaganda's selling out the cause of his people for peanuts. I bring this insight here because I am still worried by the points on the agenda in Kampala I displayed in my last post. Few people are able to articulate the order of steps to be taken if we are to reconstruct the Kivu as well as Nkunda did in the paragraph below. His statements need no comments on my part, but I am sure if I was a negotiator in Kampala, I'd revisit this position before the many "behind the scene actors" find ways of twisting the cause of the Eastern provinces. Because the English translation is mine, I will post the original in French

"If our representatives are negotiating in Nairobi with the Kinshasa government, under the mediation of the United Nations, the African Union and the International Conference for the Great Lakes, the situation is primarily due to the omissions of Sun City . Tomorrow, January 16, 2009, there will be signed in the Kenyan capital, a "Declaration of Cessation of Hostilities' that will directly go to the heart of the matter in order to establish the conditions for sustainable peace in the East of our country. From there, in subsequent rounds, a way to resolving issues that Sun City left unresolved will be paved. It is mainly about three key points: 1.) A federalist territorial public administration which has been a constant demand from all Congolese for nearly 50 years; a system which will bring the governors and the governed to better share responsibilities;  2) the eradication from our country of the presence of foreign armed groups, especially the Rwandan genocide FDLR / ex-FAR / Interahamwe guilty not only of looting, rape, mass murder and genocide, but also a violation of our national sovereignty and the integrity of our territory by the takeover of huge segments of the country at the expense of the Congolese state; 3) the resettlement of IDPs and the implementation of the return of refugees and Congolese exiles ...". General Laurent Nkunda.

Sorry for the poor translation. You can find the French version below.

"Si nos représentants négocient ces jours-ci à Nairobi avec le gouvernement de Kinshasa, sous la médiation des Nations Unies, de l'Union Africaine et de la Conférence internationale pour les Grands Lacs, c'est essentiellement pour remédier aux omissions de Sun City. Demain, 16 janvier 2009, il sera procédé à la signature, dans la capitale kényane, d'une 'Déclaration de Cessation des Hostilités' qui permettra d'entrer dans le vif du sujet en vue d'établir les conditions d'une paix durable à l'Est de notre pays. Ainsi, au cours des rounds suivants, il sera remis sur le tapis le règlement des questions que Sun City avait inconsidérément renvoyées aux calendes grecques, à savoir: 1) Une gestion territoriale de type fédéraliste qui constitue une demande permanente de tous les Congolais depuis près de 50 ans et aux fins de rapprocher au maximum les gouvernants des gouvernés et de mieux partager les responsabilités 2) L'éradication de la présence dans notre pays des groupes armés étrangers, en particulier des génocidaires rwandais FDLR/ex-FAR/Interahamwe coupables, non seulement de pillages, de viols, de meurtres à grande échelle et d'actes de génocide, mais aussi de violation de notre souveraineté nationale et de l'intégrité de notre Territoire par la prise de contrôle, au détriment de l'Etat congolais, de pans entiers de la RDC 3) La réinstallation des déplacés internes et la mise en oeuvre du retour des réfugiés et des exilés congolais... ". Général LAURENT NKUNDA