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Rebels wary of new ceasefire deal
January 19, 1999
By Christof Maletsky
Windhoek - Rebels fighting to oust Democratic Republic of Congo President
Laurent Kabila have agreed to sign a ceasefire agreement, according to President
Sam Nujoma. Nujoma's statement came shortly after the conclusion of a one-day
mini summit on the DRC crisis held in Windhoek yesterday.
However, Reuters news agency reported from Nairobi, Kenya, later yesterday that the rebels had reacted cautiously to the declaration that foreign nations fighting in Congo had cut a ceasefire deal, and demanded direct talks with President Kabila. Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) was quoted as stressing that the rebels had had no representatives at talks in Windhoek and would need to study the text of any official statement.
In Windhoek Nujoma said apart from the rebels, Rwanda and Uganda had, for the first time, agreed to join other parties in signing the pact. "We have discussed the signing of the ceasefire agreement which will take place in Zambia," the President said.
He added that all the DRC's security concerns and the deployment of peacekeeping forces from the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity had also been discussed. Yesterday's meeting of some of the main belligerents in the five -month war was called by Nujoma and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
Nujoma, who acted as the meeting's spokesperson, said the rebels had agreed to sign the ceasefire agreement but that this would be done on a "separate document". He did not explain if the separate document would differ from the one which those who attended yesterday's meeting would sign or indicate when exactly the rebels had agreed.
The mini-summit, which was delayed by the late arrival of Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu, also discussed troop withdrawal from DRC. Nujoma said he had already contacted Zambian President Frederick Chiluba to approach the UN and OAU to work out a detailed programme for such a withdrawal.
"I reported to President Chiluba to call a full summit with all those involved," Nujoma added. It was not known when exactly Chiluba would call the next meeting - which has already been postponed three times - and when the ceasefire agreement would be signed but sources said it could be as soon as next week.
A high-ranking Namibian official said the agreement on the ceasefire was a sign that all parties present had had enough of the war. The meeting was attended by Bizimungu and Museveni, whose countries have backed the rebels, and representatives of allies supporting President Kabila - Nujoma, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and an Angolan delegation, led by Defence Minister Pedro Sebastiao.
However, neither Chad - another of Kabila's allies - nor Zambia, which has been
leading the peace initiative on behalf of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
attended. The meeting - one of around 15 meetings and summits since last August
- was called after a regional summit to debate a ceasefire deal was postponed
because of Kabila's persistent refusal to meet the rebels.
Kabila considers the DRC Tutsi-led rebels essentially puppets of Ugandan and Rwandan "aggressors". Despite a stated desire by several countries to find a negotiated solution to the conflict, the Lusaka conference of ministers from 15 African countries stumbled late Saturday over Kinshasa's refusal to consider rebel contributions to a ceasefire accord.
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