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Congo-Kinshasa: The Constitution Protects Me From Exile - Says Gen. Nkunda
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Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
21 January 2008
Posted to the web 22 January 2008
Kigali
Militia groups roaming the DR Congo jungles on Monday expressed desire to sign a deal with government at the ongoing conference but after a "few final concerns" are finalized, reports from Goma, capital of eastern North Kivu province - indicate.
The conference that has been running for two weeks was supposed to end today but was moved to Tuesday, to iron out the remaining issues. Some groups still maintain that General Nkunda must leave the country.
An "act of engagement" was submitted in the afternoon to representatives of the armed groups by the chairman of a peace conference in Goma, Roman Catholic priest Apollinaire Malu Malu, and National Assembly speaker Vital Kamerhe, according to AFP.
The belligerents were reading the document over after Malu Malu said that the conference, due to close on Monday, would need a further day to iron out remaining problems. The first step will be an immediate ceasefire.
Under the proposals, rebels loyal to dissident General Nkunda would pull back from advanced positions in North Kivu, many of which they have held since the failure of a government offensive in December. There would eventually be a space for a buffer zone created to be patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers.
A technical commission would then be established to oversee the disarmament of the Nkunda rebels and Mai Mai fighters and their integration into the national army, or demobilization. The government would, in turn, promise to create a law granting amnesty to the Mai Mai and Nkunda rebels covering "insurgency and acts of war".
The latest deal, if anything to go by, comes a month after the US Envoy in Kigali Amb Michael Arietti said in December that General Nkunda needs to leave the country for exile to allow his troops join the mainstream army.
The diplomat dismissed the suggestion that General Nkunda was fighting to protect his community - the Banyamulenge - whom he claims have been victims of government witch-hunt. There is a government is DRC that is supposed to protect its people not Nkunda, Arietti said.
"Article 30 of the Constitution that we all voted for prohibits forced exile for anybody", Nkunda told the BBC Great Lakes service on Monday. "We cannot leave when we are demanding that all people in exile are allowed to return - including Jean Pierre Bemba".
Gen. Nkunda said his movement will sign onto the proposed document if their concerns over the wording are rectified. The document, according to him, says he would agree to the deal with Mai Mai militias.
We are fighting government not the Mai Mai - who are armed by government, Nkunda said today.
Early this month, General Nkunda's rebels said the international arrest warrant against him must be quashed. He is subject to a warrant issued by the Congolese government.
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His political movement the National Congress for the Defence of the Congolese People (CNDP) told the conference on January 15 they want talks with the government, the repatriation of Rwandan rebels, the return of refugees and exiles and the release of political prisoners.
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