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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: Ituri militias holding peace talks in Kinshasa
KINSHASA, 18 August 2003 (IRIN) - A meeting among representatives of numerous militias from the embattled Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), together with the national transition government and the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, has been convened in the capital, Kinshasa, in an effort to promote peace and to find a place for militiamen in the unified national army, MONUC reported.
It is the fourth session of the consultative committee of Ituri armed groups, and the first to be held in Kinshasa.
The meeting, which began on Saturday under the auspices of MONUC, was opened by William Swing, the Special Representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the DRC; Petronille Vaweka, chairwoman of the Ituri Interim Special Administration; and Jean-Pierre Ondekane, minister of defence.
None of the Ituri militias were party to the power-sharing deal that ended nearly five years of war in the DRC, and which led to the 30 June inauguration of a two-year national transition government.
Brutal attacks have persisted in the region despite an agreement on 23 July among rival militias of Ituri to disarm, withdraw to rear bases and to participate in joint verification exercises.
Representatives from five regional militias - the Front des Nationalistes Integrationnistes (FNI), the Front Populaire pour la Democratie au Congo (FPDC), the Forces Armees Populaires du Congo (FAPC), the Parti pour l'Unite et la Sauvegarde de l'Integrite du Congo (PUSIC), and the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC) - are taking part in the talks.
"There will be solutions at the political and military levels," Ondekane, of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) former rebel movement, said during his opening remarks.
The majority of Ituri's armed groups have complained that they have been excluded from transitional government institutions.
"We want our soldiers to be integrated into the new unified army, and we hope to participate in management of the transition," Floribert Ndjabu Ngabu, leader of the predominantly Lendu FNI, told IRIN.
Asked about accusations levelled against his group for recent massacres of between 30 to 150 people in Ituri, Ndjabu denied any involvement, attributing them to "inter-village massacres that had nothing to do with [his] movement".
For the UPC, a Hema-led militia, the solution is in the hands of the national government.
"There is no one responsible in Ituri - you can not depend on the sincerity of [armed] groups in Ituri that have no real capacity to control their people, who have engaged in irresponsible massacres," Thomas Lubanga, head of the UPC, told IRIN.
"Ituri must be made the responsibility of the government, who should treat it as a district," he added.
"The leaders of these armed groups in Ituri will be held accountable for repeated violations of human rights and massacres of civilian populations in Bunia and the rest of Ituri," Swing said in his opening remarks. "These massacres must end."
MONUC reported that about 30 members of different groups accompanied their leaders to Kinshasa to participate in the meeting, with MONUC providing transport and logistics support.
The consultations, due to finish on Tuesday, are taking place as MONUC has begun to take over from an EU-led multinational peace enforcement mission dispatched in June to bolster MONUC's efforts.
On 28 July, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution giving MONUC a stronger mandate and increasing its authorised strength from 8,700 to 10,800 troops. The council also extended the mission's mandate for another year, until 30 July 2004.
Ethnic strife in natural resource-rich Ituri between Hema and Lendu militias had prompted between 200,000 and 350,000 people to flee when fighting intensified in May, humanitarian sources reported.
Since August 1998, an estimated 50,000 people have been killed, while some 500,000 have been displaced.
The next meeting among armed groups of Ituri is due to be held in Bunia on 11 and 12 September.
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance
[ENDS]
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