July 9, 1999
Lusaka - The following are highlights of a draft ceasefire document aimed at ending a crippling war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, adopted by African defence and foreign ministers on Wednesday:-
The cessation of hostilities shall come into force within 24 hours of the signing of the peace agreement (which is tomorrow, Saturday, July 10 in Lusaka, Zambia).
The UN Security Council shall be requested to send a peacekeeping force to the Congo.
The parties to the conflict will set up a Joint Military Commission (JMC, comprising senior military commanders) which, together with a UN/OAU observer group, will be responsible for carrying out, immediately after the deal comes into force, peacekeeping operations until the deployment of the UN peacekeeping force.
If the United Nations does not send a force, then the OAU will be mandated to carry out peacekeeping operations.
The parties agree that all armed forces in the Congo shall observe a standstill, remaining in the positions they occupy when the agreement comes into force before being sent to designated bases by peacekeeping forces.
The Congolese parties shall administer the areas they control until an agreed interim arrangement is in place to re-establish a central authority.
Call for the disarmament of all renegade forces in the region, including the Lord's Resistance Army, which launches attacks against Uganda, and the Interahamwe Hutu militias that played a key role in the 1994 genocide of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
A special task force under the JMC will track down mass killers and human rights abusers and bring them to justice.
The parties shall release persons detained or taken hostage and shall give them the latitude to relocate to any provinces within the DRC or country where their security will be guaranteed.
Immediate and unhindered access is to be given to the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent to arrange for the release of prisoners of war and the recovery of the dead and wounded.
The final withdrawal of all foreign forces shall be carried out within nine months following the withdrawal schedule to be prepared by the UN, the OAU, and the JMC.
Once the agreement is signed, the government of the DRC, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) and the Congo Liberation Movement (MLC) as well as unarmed opposition groups shall enter into open dialogue. These negotiations will be held under the aegis of a neutral facilitator to be agreed upon by Congolese parties.
Signatories to the document will be Angola, the DRC government, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, RCD and MLC, while witnesses will be Zambia, the OAU, the UN, and SADC. - Agencies
