By Chris Tomlinson
Associated PressFebruary 28, 2001
Rwandan troops pulled back from their positions around the front line Congolese town of Pweto early Wednesday, a Rwandan commander said, marking the first major withdrawal of troops since the war began 2 1/2 years ago. About 3,000 troops were leaving Pweto on Wednesday, said Col. Karenzi Karake, head of operations for the Rwandan army. Five U.N. military observers were monitoring the pullout near the Zambian border as agreed under the Lusaka peace plan reached last year. ''This is generally in support of the peace process, but also a goodwill gesture which we hope will bring an appropriate response from the (Congolese) government in Kinshasa,'' Karake said.
Troops began to leave their positions at midnight (2100 GMT) in order to pack before the five-day trip by convoy to Pepa, 200 kilometers (160 miles) northeast of Pweto. Karake said control of the town will be turned over to the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a Rwandan-backed Congolese rebel group. But he added that if government troops, or their allies, try to enter Pweto, his troops will return in force.
Congolese rebels took up arms against former President Laurent Kabila in August 1998, accusing him of corruption and fostering ethnic hatred. Rwanda and Uganda backed the Congolese rebels, partly as a way of deploying in the area to block the Congo-backed Rwandan and Ugandan rebels attacking their home countries. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia intervened in the war to prop up Kabila. Since then, the foreign armies have done most of the fighting and have evenly divided the country, the third largest in Africa.
The Organization of African Unity and the United Nations managed to hammer out a peace agreement in Lusaka, Zambia in July 1999. The accord calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops, with U.N. peacekeepers establishing a buffer zone between the government troops and the rebels. The agreement then calls for a national debate on the future of the country, a new constitution and a new government. But Kabila blocked the deployment of U.N. troops in government-held areas and continued to bomb rebel positions. Rwanda retaliated by capturing Pweto, the location of a major airfield, in November.
Kabila was assassinated in January, leaving his son in power and creating an opportunity to kick-start the peace process. President Joseph Kabila quickly agreed to fully implement the peace accords and the warring sides recently committed to begin troops withdrawals by March 15, a deadline set by the U.N. Security Council.
The Rwandan withdrawal from Pweto, a medium-sized town on the northern shore of Lake Mweru, marks the most significant peace move yet. But Rwandan President Paul Kagame has repeatedly said a complete withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congo will come only when Rwandan Hutu rebels, many of whom were responsible for the 1994 genocide that left more than 500,000 people dead, are disarmed and no longer pose a threat to Rwanda. ''We are ready to fight if we must,'' Karake said. ''But we are more willing to give peace a chance.''
