Global Policy Forum

By Rodrique Ngowi

Pledges from rebel movements and six nations to pull back forces in war-ruined Congo were put to the test Thursday, with Rwanda, Uganda and their rebel allies the first to say they had started withdrawing from key battle zones. The day's U.N.-monitored disengagement deadline is key to a long-stalled cease-fire for Congo, which has seen its mineral-rich territory carved up and 2 million of its people sent fleeing by the 2 1/2 year-old civil war in the heart of Africa.

As promised, Rwanda started an at least 200-kilometer (125-mile) withdrawal of its forces at midnight Wednesday, said Patrick Mazimhaka, Rwanda's special envoy to Congo. ''This has to be reciprocated,'' Mazimhaka said in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. The 15,000 Rwandan troops in frontline positions in Congo were expected to pull back 15 kilometers (10 miles) by foot and in trucks before the end of the day, Rwandan officials said, adding that the country has about 40,000 troops in neighboring Congo.

Later Thursday, the 7th Battalion of the Ugandan army gathered at the airport in the northwestern town of Gemena, preparing to return home. The unit had spent the last two years deep in the Congolese jungle, most recently defending the northern shore of the Congo river from attack by government troops, Ugandan Brig. Edward Katumba-Wamala said. Congo's President Joseph Kabila ''has sent a lot of communications from Kinshasa that are very positive,'' Katumba said. ''We are optimistic that the peace process will go forward.'' The troops will be ferried out in cargo planes over the next two weeks, Katumba said. After their departure, 75 percent of the Ugandan forces in Congo will have been withdrawn, he added while declining to give a specific number.

Uganda-backed rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba said his troops completed the withdrawal on Tuesday, well ahead of schedule, after the United Nations agreed to deploy military observers in several key towns. ''We are working for peace,'' Bemba told reporters at his father's coffee plantation outside Gemena. ''It is our hope that we can engage in an inter-Congolese dialogue and bring about the unification of the country.''

The Rwandan-backed rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy also began pulling troops back from the southeastern town of Pweto, U.N. spokesman Amadou Toure said in the eastern town of Goma. He had no further details.

Meanwhile, top U.N. officials in Congo fanned out to meet with rebel leaders in Goma and the northern town of Gbadolite on the disengagement. ''This is very important,'' U.N. special representative Kamel Morjane said of the pullback of troops, upon arrival in Goma at the head of a 10-member delegation. ''This is the best indication that the parties can give (of) a commitment to the cease-fire and political dialogue.''

The U.N. Security Council set Thursday's disengagement deadline last month, taking advantage of what seemed new willingness by Kabila and other leaders. The warring forces are to complete at least a 15-kilometer (10-mile) withdrawal by March 29. Troops from Morocco, Senegal, Uruguay and Tunisia are to deploy in coming weeks to help in U.N. verification of compliance.

Congo's war broke out in August 1998 when rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda took up arms to oust Kabila's father, the late President Laurent Kabila. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia joined to support the Congolese government. All sides signed a cease-fire agreement in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1999, but all have repeatedly violated it.

The stalled peace effort gained new momentum after the mysterious Jan. 16 assassination of Laurent Kabila by one of his own bodyguards. His son pledged Thursday to do everything possible to end the civil war and called on other nations to do the same. ''We believe it is high time that each and everybody in the Congo, in the region, in the world put much more effort in trying to see to it that it comes to an end,'' Joseph Kabila said at a news briefing to wrap up a two-day visit to Sweden.

Congo's army said late Wednesday it would respect its commitments regarding the pullback. Similar pledges came from Zimbabwe and Namibia. But there was no immediate confirmation that their pullbacks had started Thursday. U.N. officials in the capital, Kinshasa, said they had yet to hear back from their officials in the field.

Angola, for its part, said it would start withdrawing only after the insurgents pulled back. ''We are watching the situation on the ground very carefully today,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Joao Pedro said in the Angolan capital, Luanda.

The U.N. Security Council expects to deploy 3,000 troops in coming months, including 500 military observers. The first members of what, by the end of May, should be a 1,500-strong U.N. monitoring deployment were ready to move out within days, U.N. officials said Thursday.