By Rodrique Ngowi
Associated PressApril 3, 2001
Congolese rebels admitted Tuesday that they have not pulled back all of their fighters from front line towns in accordance with a peace deal, because the United Nations has not yet guaranteed that their enemies will not fill the void. The Congolese Liberation Front, a coalition of rebel groups in the northern half of Congo, also wants the U.N. Mission in Congo to guarantee the start of an inter-Congolese dialogue to find political solution to the country's 2 1/2-year civil war, Hamadoun Toure, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.
The rebels are concerned about the safety of civilians left within the 15-kilometer (10-mile) military disengagement zone mandated by a 1999 cease-fire agreement. All armed groups fighting in Congo were expected to pull back from front line position on March 15.
Rwandan rebels, known as the Interhamwe and allied with the Congolese government, have built up troops along some front lines, rebel spokesman Olivier Kamitatu said in a telephone interview from Beni, eastern Congo. ''There are 3,000 Interahamwe militiamen on at least two points along the front line and we want guarantees that they will not move into the areas vacated by our forces,'' he told the Associated Press.
The United Nations has deployed 500 unarmed military observers in several key towns along the front lines, but the 2,500-strong armed U.N. force that has begun deploying in Congo is responsible only for protecting the observers and their equipment, not enforcing the cease-fire. ''These (rebel) demands are not within our mandate at all,'' Toure, the U.N. spokesman, said. ''We are here to guarantee disengagement. It is the belligerents who are to guarantee the start of the inter-Congolese dialogue and security of the population...even our own security is in the hands of the parties.''
Rebels took up arms to topple former President Laurent Kabila in August 1998, prompting a continentwide war in Congo. Rwanda and Uganda came in on the side of rebels, while Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola joined the fight in support of Kabila.
Talks between the government and the armed and unarmed opposition as well as disengagement of forces at front line positions are key provisions of a 1999 cease-fire deal, signed by most of the combatants but never fully implemented. The Interahamwe are not signatories, but are the responsibility of the government.
The search for peace gained momentum following the Jan. 16 assassination of Laurent Kabila and the succession of his son, Joseph, to the presidency. Since then, Rwanda and Uganda have redeployed some troops from Congo and withdrawn remaining forces to new defensive positions. Government troops and their allies have not fully pulled back from their position, U.N. officials have said. The British, French, Russian and U.S. ambassadors in Congo met rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba on Saturday to press him to comply with the beleaguered peace accord.
