18 11 13 The East African: Uganda, Rwanda reach out to DRC after deal flops

“We are in touch with them and we are still
waiting for them to sign,” Uganda’s
Defence Minister Dr Crispus Kiyonga told The EastAfrican. “We have
hope that they will do so.”

Diplomats across the region
were by the end of the week waiting on a signal from Kinshasa
after the delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo led by Foreign
Affairs Minister Raymond Tshibanda walked away from a scheduled event to sign a
peace deal in Kampala
with the M23 rebels.

The agreement is widely seen
as a critical step to resolving years of war and political instability in
eastern DRC.

The spokesperson of the
Ugandan military, Lt-Col Paddy Ankunda, said the only option on the table is a
negotiated settlement between the warring parties.

“Efforts are ongoing to have the parties sign
the agreement because there is no option. The only way to resettle M23 is to
sign the agreement,” he said.

The defeat of the M23 has
changed the military configuration in eastern DRC and given Kinshasa the upper hand but the search for a
more sustainable political solution remains incomplete.

Sources in Kampala
told The EastAfrican that the turnaround by the Kinshasa delegation was as a result of the
Congolese government seeing M23 as a “defeated force” and, therefore, they see
no need to sign an agreement with the “losers.”

 

Tough choices for M23 after defeat by DRC govt, UN force

“When M23 seized Goma, the pressure was on Kinshasa to sign a peace
deal,” a senior official familiar with the matter told The EastAfrican.

“After M23’s spectacular collapse, Kinshasa lost the
incentive and motivation to do so; unfortunately it has left Museveni’s
credibility on the line.”

Senior officials of the M23
say they were persuaded by President Museveni to withdraw from Goma in November
2012, and resume negotiations. They add that the joint summit earlier this
month in Pretoria
between the Southern African Development Community and the International
Committee on the Great Lakes Region directed them to call off their rebellion
in exchange for a peace deal with the DRC government.

 

General Makenga’s ‘last kicks’ as M23 is defeated

The leader of the M23
delegation, Rene Abandi, told The EastAfrican on Friday that they were
shocked at Kinshasa’s
last-minute turnaround.

“We have agreed on everything in the documents
including amnesty. What I don’t understand is why they changed their mind at
the last minute,” he said.