10 11 13 AFP: High hopes as DR Congo, M23 rebels set to sign peace deal
The rebels, one of many
armed groups operating in the mineral-rich but impoverished east of the DR
Congo, have been routed by the national army, who are backed by a 3,000-strong
special United Nations intervention brigade.
Allegedly supported by
neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda but
seemingly abandoned by their sponsors due to international pressure, the M23
announced last week that their 18-month insurgency was over. They are expected
to put this in writing in Uganda
on Monday.
"Our hope is that we
have a firm commitment from the M23 rebels to renounce their use of arms,"
said DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende.
The M23, a mainly
ethnic-Tutsi force who mutinied from the Congolese army, have not confirmed
Monday's meeting. But with no more military leverage they are seen as having
little room for manoeuvre.
The agreement is expected
to settle the fate of about 1,500 M23 fighters who have crossed into Uganda and are
languishing in camps along the border. Uganda has refused to hand them
over to the DR Congo.
Around 100 more injured
rebels have crossed to Rwanda.
Mende said the rebels would
be dealt with "case by case" — with many rank-and-file fighters
expected to be given the option to return to the army.
More complicated is the
fate of around 100 M23 commanders. These include M23 leader Sultani Makenga,
accused of participating in several massacres, mutilations, abductions and
sexual violence, sometimes against children.
"The rebels, by
signing, will effectively be surrendering. From our side, even though we have
won and triumphed, we will still respect what is on the table," said
Francois Muamba, a DR Congo delegate to the talks.
The UN's special envoy to
the Great Lakes, Mary Robinson, told AFP the
accord would be "a very important step for peace".
Speaking to AFP on Sunday,
she said the deal will also be followed by operations to neutralise other rebel
groups in a concerted effort to end one of Africa's
most brutal and longest-running wars.
This would be "new and
welcome news for the people… who have tolerated or have had to endure for far
too long these armed groups, with the raping and re-raping, with the
displacement of people," she said.
"It has been
intolerable, and now there really is hope," said the former Irish
president.
But even if a deal is
signed, stabilising eastern DR Congo will not be easy. Previous peace deals for
the region — including with the M23 — have foundered because they were not
implemented or did not address underlying problems such as refugees and land
ownership.
Role of Uganda and Rwanda
Robinson said she believed
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni — who deny
backing the M23 — were committed to an 11-nation regional peace agreement
signed in February.
She said the priority would
now shift to defeating the DR Congo-based Democratic Forces for the Liberation
of Rwanda (FDLR), a descendant of Hutu extremist groups that carried out the
1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The Congolese government
has already vowed a new campaign to eradicate the group.
Rwanda's minority Tutsi-led government
views the FDLR as a major security threat, and dealing with the group is seen
as crucial to addressing the neighbouring country's concerns and preventing the
emergence of yet another Rwandan-backed proxy.
But not everyone in the DR
Congo is convinced.
A group of Congolese NGOs
and civil society groups last week dismissed the peace negotiations as
"nonsense", denounced the impending "integration of criminals
and foreigners" back into the army and called Uganda an "aggressor".
A researcher for the Enough
Project, a US
group campaigning against war crimes, said Rwandan and Ugandan meddling could
still scupper a deal.
"It must be noted that
Museveni does not hide his feelings for the M23 when he demands a general
amnesty and their unconditional reintegration," Fidel Bafilemba said.
"The fact that Uganda says it
won't extradite the rebels leads one to think there could be a plan B to
rebuild the rebels."