November 27, 2000
President Laurent Kabila has agreed to the deployment of a U.N. peace force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to monitor the movement of troops as envisaged in the Lusaka Peace Accord, Mozambican President Joaquim Chssano said Monday. Chissano, who hosted a one-day summit on the DRC conflict, said Kabila's "openness is a positive step towards a rapid implementation of the Lusaka Peace Accord", and expressed the hope that the DRC government would iron out its outstanding issues with the United Nations.
He said the timing of the deployment of a U.N. peace force will be decided at a meeting of the political committee in Lusaka next Wednesday. The committee, set up under the Lusaka agreement, comprises defence ministers of the belligerent states and the three rebel groups who have signed the August 1999 ceasefire agreement in Lusaka.
The U.N. Security Council in February this year approved the deployment of more than 5,000 soldiers to monitor the movement of troops in the DRC.
The Maputo summit was a follow-up to South African initiated talks held in the Mozambican capital on October 16 this year. South African President Thabo Mbeki who will attend the summit, said the committee will also discuss ways to prevent rebel groups from Rwanda and Burundi to upset the ceasefire. He said although President Paul Kagame of Rwanda had offered to pull his troops back 200 kilometres, the Rwandan troops had to halt their retreat to protect themselves from attacks by other forces.
Apart from Mbeki, Chissano and Kabila, Monday's summit was also attended by Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of Rwanda. Namibia was represented by Prime Minister Hage Geingob and Angola by Defence Minsiter Kundi Pahyama.
