DATE=9/7/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGO REBELS (L)
NUMBER=2-253552
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=KIGALI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Rebels in Congo say president Laurent Kabila
has broken last week's cease-fire with two attacks
against rebel positions. V-O-A'S Scott Stearns
reports Rwanda says there is still time to save the
deal, but the international community needs to move
fast.
TEXT: Rebels say they came under attack in the
provinces of Kasai and Equateur. That is the most
serious claim of fighting since last week's cease-fire
deal in Lusaka calling for 20-thousand peacekeepers
and a joint military commission to observe the cease-
fire.
Lambert Mende is the spokesman for Congo's Goma-based
rebellion. He says if there is no commitment to
policing the accord, there is no reason for rebels to
believe in it.
/// MENDE ACT ONE ///
Now, O-A-U, United Nations, the Joint Military
Commission are having a very hard task of
showing us their seriousness to this cease-fire
agreement.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Mende says rebels from the Congolese Rally for
Democracy still are observing the cease-fire, holding
ground outside the diamond-rich town of Mbuji-Mayi.
/// MENDE ACT TWO ///
They are not very far from Mbuji-Mayi. They
have stopped firing. They have kept themselves
on a standstill position. But this will last if
Kabila can do the same. The very day our troops
will be attacked, if this attack is originating
from Mbuji Mayi, then Mbuji-Mai is attacked.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Mende says the cease-fire is a weak arrangement
because there is no means of holding people to their
word -- the absence so far of a well-equipped force
big enough to police Congo among six foreign armies
and rival rebel factions.
Rwanda is backing the Goma-based rebellion. Officials
here say there is still time to make the cease-fire
work. Rwanda's Director of Information, Wilson
Rutayisire, says that on paper, the plan is a good one
that could meet Rwanda's security concerns.
/// RUTAYISIRE ACT ONE ///
All that we wanted and all that took us to Congo
has been addressed in that pre-cease-fire
agreement, so here we are looking forward to its
implementation. It is really defeatist to say
that it is not going to be possible when it
hasn't started.
/// END ACT ///
Despite charges that President Kabila has already
broken the cease-fire, Mr. Rutayisire says it is
important to press ahead with the accord, at least
putting into place a joint military commission for
Congo.
/// RUTAYISIRE ACT TWO ///
Let's start. We should start. Let there be J-
M-C -- Joint Military Commission -- should be
put in place. At least do the monitoring as we
wait or push that the O-A-U peacekeeping force
comes in -- whatever is going to keep peace
during the talks.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Getting to a planned "national
dialogue" on Congo is complicated by divisions within
the rebellion. Fifty founding members ended up
signing the Lusaka accord, temporarily bridging a
power struggle between rebel factions, one backed by
Rwanda and the other supported by Uganda.
/// OPT /// Mr. Rutayisire says national dialogue
in Congo will be easy if enough people are serious
about ending the war there. That is for the future.
He says the danger now is waiting too long to enforce
the cease-fire before there is more fighting.
/// OPT // RUTAYISIRE ACT THREE ///
Peace in Congo is a matter of the region, a
matter for the international community. There
is no other problem once we begin implementation
of the cease-fire agreement that with all these
efforts put together cannot solve. But the
problem is that we should be seen to start.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
The United Nations is deploying the first of its
military liaison officers in preparation for a larger
observer group in Congo. The full detachment could
take months. (Signed)
NEB/SKS/JWH
07-SEP-1999 15:130025076541 97?4 P.01
07-Sep-1999 11:37 AM EDT (07-Sep-1999 1537 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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