Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
6 December 2007
Kigali — Regional leaders at a security summit in Ethiopia want the UN Security Council to pass a 'specific resolution' establishing sanctions against Rwandan rebels holed up in the jungles on DR Congo, RNA reports.
The Tripartite Plus Joint Commission Summit facilitated by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also agreed yesterday to allow DR Congo flash out the rebels that have been there since 1994 after the Genocide. The top brass of the rebel-outfit are subject to UN sanctions but it seems these will have to be extended onto the whole group. This means any country dealing with them will be held liable for any inconvenience they cause - DRC could be in a difficult position. Presidents Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi), and Minister of State for Interior Denis Kalume, representing DR Congo President Joseph Kabila met in Addis Ababa on December 5.
The leaders are caught in a web of enemy rebel militias roaming in each country. In a joint statement, the leaders repeated previous commitments where none could give sanctuary to 'negative forces' of the other. Uganda has the Lords Resistance Army - that has moved to North Eastern DRC. It also has quiet but long standing complaints that suggest Rwanda is keeping some of its enemies to the establishment in Kampala.
Rwanda remains uncomfortable with hundreds - if not thousands of Forces for the liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militias just next door. They are accused of Genocide crimes and government here wants them sent back to face justice. There have been rising voices calling on Rwanda to come up with a list of the Genocide suspects from the rebel ranks - with campaign groups saying they could be less than five. In a response plan handed to Rwanda on December 01 for ending the militia problem, DR Congo will flash out the FDLR through 'political/diplomatic means and accompanying public information and sensitization campaigns, and through military operations planned to begin in mid-March and to be completed with urgency'.
There have been previous allegations that DRC dissident General Laurent Nkunda could be getting support from Rwanda - a claim had to substantiate to date. The leaders have now say border controls need to be strengthened to prevent illicit cross-border movement of combatants or recruits and to refrain from aiding and abetting any armed group. Gen. Nkunda, the leaders decided, must 'without delay' either join the process of demobilization or to integrate within the Congolese armed forces 'according to modalities determined by the Government of the DRC'. Meanwhile, as battle rage on, aid groups say they are increasingly getting concerned over the fate of civilians caught up in the fighting and once again forced to flee. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says the violence appears to be concentrated in parts of Rutshuru and Masisi territories, in the province of North Kivu.
The immediate consequence of the violence has been the mass exodus of civilians seeking refuge in safer areas, the agency said on Thursday. Some are said to be trying to reach camps for displaced persons near Goma while others are heading for the southern part of Lubero territory.
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