Presidents Kabila and Kagame on Tuesday joined others to try to fashion out peace for the east.
A two-day summit of leaders of the 11-member International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) began meeting at Munyonyo on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital, Kampala yesterday August 7. Also participating in the summit that aims at agreeing on a neutral force to police the strife-torn border between the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC and Rwanda are Presidents Joseph Kabila and Paul Kagame respectively.
According to Uganda’s New Vision newspaper, regional Foreign Ministers holding preparatory meetings in Kampala on Monday August 6 discussed at least three options for possible military intervention. One option would see countries of the region contribute troops and funds. The African Union has said it is ready to contribute to such a force.
A second option is for a joint international and regional force incorporated into the current UN peacekeeping mission in the country with a beefed up mandate. The third idea is an interim UN force, but the ministers did not specify if this would be in addition to the international and regional force, the Associated Press reported.
The meeting in Ugandan follows a similar one last month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where regional leaders resolved to work together to end the violence in eastern Congo. The summit agreed that ICGLR should work with the African Union and the United Nations for the immediate establishment of a neutral international force to eradicate Congo's newest rebellion and other fighters terrorizing civilians in the country's mineral-rich east. The AU said it could help by sending soldiers.
Even if a compromise is reached, the troops still need to be capable of routing some of the most battle-hardened fighters in the region such as the M-23 or the Rwandan FDLR rebels, Al Jazeerea Television warned. Congo already has the largest peacekeeping force in the world with nearly 20,000 UN troops. But the country’s army that is said to be ill-equipped, ill-paid and demoralized, is also accused of pillaging and raping civilians just like rebels and militiamen.
Eastern Congo's conflict is a hangover from Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Hundreds of people who participated in the killing of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus escaped into Congo and still fight there today. The M-23 rebels are the latest incarnation of a group of Congolese Tutsi rebels set up to fight Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo. The M23 fighters launched their rebellion earlier this year after accusing the Congolese government of failing to respect a March 2009 peace deal that integrated them into the army.
