Martin Tindiwensi
27 October 2007
Goma — General Laurent Nkunda, the head of the rebel CNDP agreed to lay down weapons in a bid to bring peace in the region.
Nkunda on October 23 sent 200 soldiers to the assembly points of Kirorirwe in North Kivu province for integration into the government army in accordance to demands from the international community and the DRC government to disarm in order to end the current conflict in North Kivu.
CNDP spokesman, Rene Abandi confirmed this development on phone and said more will be sent to bring the total to 500 combatants as a sign of willingness to end the conflict that has forced thousands out of their homes and into refuge camps.
He added that sending troops to the integration camps was a step in triggering talks between the CNDP and the government on how the Interahamwe issue could be resolved and design ways on how refuges could return to their respective homes.
"The international community has set requirements to both CNDP and the Congolese government and we are adjusting to the requests.
Our continuous progress will however depend on how the government reacts to our demands," adding that they might not cooperate if the government refuses to respond to their demands.
He added that among the demands by the international community is laying down weapons and integrate with the Government troops, and changing CNDP from a politico-military movement to a political party. He said they were ready to abide by the demands if only government was willing to talk.
He neither dismissed allegations that their change in attitude was a sign of fear or failure to fight the government nor was it pressure imposed to them by the international community.
"We are not doing this out of fear. We are doing it for peace. We shall continue defending our people until we have clear talks with the government and the assurance of security after ceasefire," he stated.
In his recent visit to Goma, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, promised to provide security to the Tutsi Congolese in North Kivu after forceful disarmament of Nkunda's troops and to disarm the Interahamwe and X-FAR who are said to be a threat to the Tutsi Congolese.
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I must admit that as much as I rely on Allafrica.com, you may be behind news or you may not be informing your readers about the situation in the DRC as well as we are used to your reporting.
I am a Kenyan and the information that I have is that Gen. Laurent Nkunda is not only dead but for more than two weeks now. After he sustained gun shots from an unnamed source as reported by the BBC, he was taken to Kigali for specialised treatment. He was later moved to the Nairobi Hospital where he died.
I tries to visit the hospital and the Lee Funaral home to confirm this alongside my congolese friends living here in Kenya. We were strictly instructed that this was a state security issues and were denied access to the morge.
to confirm my report is the sudden and suprising visit by Kenyas Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Moses Wateng'ula to both President Kagame and Kabila. Since when did Kenya find the war in the DRC of such immense importance to send the minister with a message from the President for peace? Kenya has never acted like it has any idea that DRC has had any war that compels its concern.
Indeed when Prof. Maathai won the nobel price, she was invited by the Government of the DRC to mediate in ending the war beacuse the war has huge implications on the environment. what did she do? she snobbed the whole thing.
The problem is that, the two that Minister wateng'ula visited would not have minded his death. However, he may have been assasinated due to his intention to have his fighters joining the DRC army which may have not been favoured by other actors for instance President Kagame's Rwanda.
Dont you find it interesting that while on one hand you are reporting of soldiers been integrated into the DRC army; on the other there are all this news of increasing fighting in the same area? Who is fighting who if Nkunda wanted integration? Ever wondered wbout the policy of Kagame towards the intarahamwes in the DRC? He does not want them to have any reason to go back to Rwanda as such a move would distabilise his government which is getting unpopular by the day.
Read between the lines;- Gen. Nkunda is dead, he died in a kenyan hospital and now kenya is trying to run around in an effort to clean its name. His unknown assasins were agents of Rwanda and thus while his troops are joining the DRC army, the fighting in Kivu is between the Army and Rwandan troops.
This will create a possibility for peace to return to North Kivu province and the return of the IDP back to their homes .