John Stephen Katende

13^th Aug 2012:

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has rejected calls for an exclusively African regional force to tackle the raging insurgency in the country’s volatile eastern region.  It accused its neighbours Uganda and Rwanda of involvement in the conflict that is threatening to tear the vast central African country apart.

Fighting between M23 rebels and Democratic Republic of Congo government forces has displaced nearly half a million people since April and damaged relations between neighbouring countries in the Great Lakes region that have a history of conflict.

At a summit last month, regional African leaders agreed on the idea of a “neutral force” to take on Congo-based rebel groups.  But when heads of state of east and central African nations met this week in Kampala to discuss the eastern Congo crisis, they failed to agree on whether such a force would be drawn from their own countries or have a broader U.N. make-up.

Congolese Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda said Kinshasa would accept soldiers from certain central and east African states as part of an international mission, but not from Rwanda and neighbouring states that he did not specify.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded an end to foreign support for the Tutsi-led M23 rebels, a rebuke diplomats said was aimed at Rwanda and Uganda.  Rwanda has however denied accusations by U.N. officials that its military has provided equipment and recruits for the M23 rebellion. Uganda has also rejected similar accusations.

Congo favours an expanded role for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo while Rwanda and Uganda, under pressure from the West to cut all links to the M23 insurgency, want a regional force to tackle the rebels.

“…To us, the quickest and easiest way is to use the mechanism that is already in the DRC,” DRC’s Foreign Minister Tshibanda told reporters in Kampala on Wednesday last week.

“(The neutral force) cannot involve Rwandan troops because Rwanda is part of the problem. These negative forces operate on Congolese soil but they come from neighbouring countries. So I think these…countries logically shouldn’t be part of this force.” Tshibanda added.

The regional heads of state said they would decide the composition of the force at a later meeting.

Tshibanda also said his government does not want to negotiate with the M23 rebels who have seen their ranks swelled by hundreds of defectors from the Congolese army.

“…We don’t want them to survive as a movement, as an ideology, we don’t want to see their actions continue…there is no question about it, and there is nothing to discuss, to negotiate,”  said the tough talking Congolese politician.

The M23 name comes from a 2009 peace accord the rebels say was violated by Kinshasa, an assertion denied by the government.  Benjamin Mbonimpa of M23’s political wing said it was ready for dialogue and that the Kampala meeting had failed.

“…Whilst they were in Kampala, (the army) has been reinforcing its positions.  We have always said we’re open to dialogue, but if they attack us, we shall defend ourselves,” said Mbonimpa.  END.  Login to www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories mid-week for our updates

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