BuaNews (Tshwane)
30 March 2007
Dar es Salaam — Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are concerned that current violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo could cause the nation to fall back into conflict.
This emanated from the leaders' two-day extraordinary summit which ended in the Tanzanian coastal city of Dar-Es-Salaam Thursday.
The SADC leaders felt that the current hostilities were retrogressive and should be brought to an end sooner rather than later.
In a joint communique, which was adopted by all the ten heads of state, it was agreed that since the DRC was a sovereign state, it should have only one national army.
Tanzania, represented by President Jakaya Kikwete, is the current chair of the community's organ on politics, defense and security cooperation and is concurrently chairing the SADC diplomatic Troika that also includes Lesotho and Namibia.
The SADC leaders, who recommended that all the small armies in the DRC be integrated into the national army or be demobilised, were concerned that the proliferation of armies in the DRC was a sure recipe for continued violence and loss of lives.
President Thabo Mbeki was supported at the summit by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad.
Briefing reporters in Parliament Tuesday, Mr Pahad had indicated the leaders' concerns that the DRC may slide back to its previous state due to the clashes between government forces and the personal bodyguard of senator Jean-Pierre Bemba.
"South Africa continues to be seized with the matter," Mr Pahad said.
"Many countries are expressing deep concern that the gains made in the DRC will be undermined."
Unsuccessful presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba, who is also leader of the opposition Movement for the Liberation of Congo, has been sheltering at the South African embassy in the DRC's capital Kinshasa, since last week.
The opposition leader has since called the attacks an attempt on his life.
Mr Pahad said reports indicated at least 120 people had died in the recent upsurge of violence there.
South Africa, the deputy minister said, would continue to provide sanctuary for Mr Bemba "on South African property" until such time as the opposition leader saw fit.
"In terms of international conventions he has taken asylum. He'll remain there until he sees fit."
Mr Bemba, said the deputy minister, has been charged with high treason, while his party has called for a truce.
South Africa is a vital roleplayer in the vast central African nation's move from over 40 years of unrest towards becoming a democracy in last year's elections where former vice President Bemba faced off with incumbent President Joseph Kabila.
Mandated by the African Union, South Africa facilitated talks between various factions and government representatives and went on to provide intensive logistical and technical support for the elections.
This included printing and distributing ballot papers and providing vital IT infrastructure to count votes.
South African troops are also part of the security forces of MONUC, the United Nations mission in the DRC, which is incidentally the largest UN military presence deployed anywhere in the world.
Mr Kabila was reinstated as the president of the resource rich African country after run-off elections on 29 October 2006, where neither he nor Mr Bemba garnered a majority of the votes cast at initial polls in July.
President Kabila won 44.81 percent of the votes while Mr Bemba captured 20.03 percent.
It is provided for by the DRC's constitution, that in cases where a presidential candidate fails to garner a minimum of 51 percent of the votes, a run off election must be convened between the two strongest candidates.
President Kabila won the run off elections, but these results were challenged by Mr Bemba who alleged "systematic cheating and falsified results."
The results subsequently went before the DRC's Supreme Court on 16 November amid violence, including the torching of the court's premises.
The Supreme Court on 27 November confirmed President Kabila as the winner of the run-off elections, a decision South Africa urged Mr Bemba and his party to accept. - BuaNews-NNN
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
