06 09 13 Associated Press: Congo, Rwanda leaders meet in Uganda over rebels
The summit organized in Uganda's capital marked a rare opportunity for
Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame to hold
face-to-face meetings at a time when their countries are on edge over Rwanda's alleged military involvement in eastern
Congo.
The negotiations between
the Congolese government and the M23 rebels have repeatedly stalled
since late last year.
In a statement issued late
Thursday, the presidents and other regional leaders called for peace talks to
resume within three days' time "and conclude within a maximum period of 14
days during which maximum restraint must be exercised on the ground to allow
for talks to conclude."
In August, Congolese troops
backed by U.N. forces battled M23 rebels near the eastern city of
Goma, home to
nearly 1 million people along the Rwandan border. Rwanda accused the Congolese
military of firing missiles across the border and warned that "this
provocation can no longer be tolerated."
Then the M23 rebels
last week declared a unilateral cease-fire following a week of heavy fighting
with the Congolese troops, saying they wanted to "give peace a
chance," although Congo's
government said it wants M23 disbanded.
Congo's government now will
be less keen on the talks as its army and a newly strengthened U.N. intervention
force appear to have the upper hand in the most recent clashes with the rebels,
according to Jason Stearns, a Congo expert who runs the Usalama Project, a
think tank that researches Congo's armed groups.
"The primary drive to
get back to the negotiating table is coming from Uganda
and Rwanda,"
he said. "They (Congo's
government) feel that they are in a position of strength."
Congo's government would be interested in
talks that can lead to "the decapitation of M23," he added.
Thursday's meeting in the Ugandan
capital of Kampala was called by Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni "to stop the fighting and get back on the
negotiating table," according to James Mugume, the permanent secretary at Uganda's
Foreign Ministry.
The summit in Kampala was organized under
the banner of a regional bloc called the International Conference on the Great
Lakes Region. It also was attended by United Nations special envoy Mary
Robinson, who has urged a political solution to a crisis that recently
threatened to spill over Congo's
borders.
In their statement
Thursday, the presidents said they "strongly condemn" the deaths of
civilians on both sides of the border and also urged M23 to stop its
threats.
"M23 should put
an end to all military activities, and stop war and threats of overthrowing the
lawful government of (Congo),"
said the statement signed by the presidents including Rwanda's
Kagame.
Rwanda denies backing the rebels despite
multiple U.N. reports citing evidence to the contrary. One U.N. report said
Rwandans join M23 in small groups, hiking across footpaths into Congo. Rwanda also has
supplied the rebels with arms and sophisticated equipment, including night
vision goggles, the report said.
In the latest fighting,
however, Congolese troops were boosted by a special intervention brigade of U.N.
troops who, unlike the other 17,000 peacekeepers stationed in the
vast nation, have a mandate to attack the rebels. The U.N. brigade shelled
rebel positions with artillery as Congolese troops engaged the rebels in
hand-to-hand combat, support that may have pushed the rebels to retreat and
declare the cease-fire.
It stood in stark contrast
to last November, when the U.N. troops were unable to stop the M23
rebels from briefly overtaking Goma before withdrawing under international
pressure.
M23 is made up of hundreds of Congolese
soldiers mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group who deserted the national army last
year after accusing the government of failing to honor the terms of a deal
signed in March 2009. Even before the creation of the M23 in 2012,
eastern Congo's
forest-covered hills were crawling with other rebel groups, ethnic militias and
renegade units of the regular army.