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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: Ituri militia leaders fear mutiny if they surrender
KAMPALA, 27 August 2003 (IRIN) - Leaders of armed factions in the troubled Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) want to disarm but say they cannot because they are afraid of their own men, a UN peacekeeping official told IRIN on Wednesday.
"Ituri's militia leaders are in a tight corner because while they know they have to surrender, they fear falling victim of a coup by their own men if they try. This is a dangerous situation, as their men are not all well controlled," Usman Dabo, the official, said.
Dabo, who heads the Kampala, Uganda, office of the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, known as MONUC, had just returned from the DRC capital, Kinshasa, where the five main belligerent groups of Ituri had recently been holding meetings with MONUC and the newly-installed two-year transitional government, including President Joseph Kabila.
Dabo said that for the first time, he saw a genuine willingness among the militia leaders to disarm to achieve peace.
"It seemed to me that they have finally realised that something has to change – that they can't continue to carve up Congo between themselves. They have to come together to bring the whole country under a legitimate authority," Dabo said.
The Kinshasa gathering brought together some 30 representatives of the Front des nationalistes et des integrationnistes, the Union des patriotes congolais, the Parti pour l'unite et la sauvegarde de l'integrite du Congo, the Forces populaires pour la democratie au Congo, and the Forces armees du peuple congolais.
In a memorandum of understanding signed at the end of the talks, the Ituri militias agreed to work together with the new government in restoring state authority across the region. They also pledged to end hostilities and to bring an end to "uncontrolled" groups that have continued to commit massacres despite the signing of several ceasefire agreements.
None of the ethnic-based militias fighting for control of Ituri is signatory to the national power-sharing accord that led to the installation on 30 June of the Congo's new government, led by Kabila. Last week's talks were aimed at including them in a peace and reconciliation process from which they had complained of being excluded.
"They were very happy to be in Kinshasa and took this opportunity to move towards peace," Dabo said. "But they are clearly afraid of what happens next."
Since the recent installation of the transitional government, activities of the Ituri militias have been officially outlawed by the new administration – a prohibition to be enforced with the help of MONUC, whose mandate and manpower were recently strengthened by the UN Security Council. The council also extended the mission's mandate until 30 July 2004.
"The big problem that the Congolese military must face is what to do with all these soldiers," Dabo said. "What is on offer for them to be persuaded to lay down their arms? "Obviously, the ideal solution is to absorb them into the army - so the rebel groups laid this down as a condition of surrender."
However, Kabila rejected the militia leaders' requests to include their men in the unified national army, currently in the process of being formed. "He cannot take in, train, feed and clothe all these combatants. He lacks the resources," Dabo said.
Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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