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http://www.suntimes.co.za/suntimesarchive/1998/11/29/news/news26.htm
Kabila agrees to sign a ceasefire in Congo
JUSTICE MALALA: Paris
THE Democratic Republic of Congo has agreed to sign a cease-fire by mid-December
with representatives of the governments of Uganda and Rwanda, which have backed
a rebel military assault against President Laurent Kabila's government.
French President Jacques Chirac yesterday confirmed that the parties had agreed to cease hostilities following a meeting of key players convened by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the 20th Africa-France summit in Paris this week.
This is the first time that Kabila, who has snubbed a series of South African -led peace initiatives, has agreed to halt the fighting. The decision is said to have the backing of his military allies, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola.
ý South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki earlier told a meeting of the French Institute for Foreign Affairs in Paris that apartheid-era generals and other operatives who had committed crimes on foreign soil should not be extradited from South Africa to face prosecution as this could cause instability in the country.
Mbeki said he was not in favour of the extradition of those granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission if this meant that reconciliation would be compromised.
Should the world back Mbeki's suggestion, hundreds of apartheid-era operatives who have confessed to killing, bombing and maiming members of the liberation movements and foreigners abroad during the '80s will no longer face prosecution if they travel overseas.
Mbeki was speaking shortly after the British House of Lords cleared the way for former dictator General Augusto Pinochet to be extradited to Spain to stand trial for the murder of hundreds of Spanish citizens in Chile during his 17-year rule of terror.
"We decided on truth and amnesty . . . to have stability . . . If they [other countries] wanted to extradite the apartheid generals it would detract from the process of truth and stability in South Africa," Mbeki said.
Various international security agencies have still not closed their dockets on crimes committed by apartheid police and military agents in their countries.