Fourteenth Round of Tripartite Talks Conclude Positively
28 May 2006
Progress made on Fusion Cell operation, list of sanctioned groups and leaders
By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Special Correspondent
Kigali, Rwanda -- Conflict resolution talks aimed at curbing the movements of rebel forces in the Great Lakes region concluded May 27 with agreement on a number of issues, including enhancing information-gathering and formalizing a "wanted list" of individuals and groups subject to travel restrictions and asset sanctions.
Rwanda’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region Richard Sezibera briefed journalists following the two-day session of the Tripartite Plus Joint Commission (TJC) Subcommission on Security and Defense describing it as, "a very productive meeting."
Sezibera, a former Rwandan ambassador to the United States, addressed reporters and close to 30 delegates from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda in the conference hall of the Des Milles Collines. Several observers from the United Nations and the MONUC peacekeeping force in DRC also attended the two-day talks. (See related article.)
The Kigali meeting was the 14th in a conflict-resolution process that began more than two years ago with help from then Secretary of State Colin Powell. The process has been facilitated by a team of U.S. diplomats led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto, who has traveled to Kigali seven times to attend Tripartite meetings.
In a speech he gave to United Nations in January, the former U.S. ambassador to Djibouti said, "We deplore the violence and condemn the hostilities of the FDLR, the LRA and FNL [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, Lord's Resistance Army and National Liberation Front] and other negative forces and militias operating in the Great Lakes region."
Militias like the FDLR, whose leaders were involved in the genocide in Rwanda, depend on young recruits, many of whom are just hostages taken by force from refugee camps and their villages. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer outlined the problem when she spoke to the press during a visit to Rwanda in April.
Frazer described visiting a refugee camp in eastern Congo where she "had the chance to talk extensively to some of the young soldiers who were part of the FDLR; they spoke about being held hostage there by the FDLR leaders. And that they were being shot when they tried to reach MONUC positions for repatriation home."
In Kigali, Ambassador Sezibera declared the latest round of talks "very productive."
He said, "We have put into place operational procedures to make the Fusion Cell more effective both as a conduit for information we share on armed groups and also to enable it to analyze this information even more effectively."
The Fusion Cell is a jointly operated data-gathering and analysis operation in eastern Congo meant to keep track of the movements of militias and verify or deny reports of cross-border violations.
Sezibera also said, "We have agreed on lists of individuals who are leaders of the armed groups operating in the region. This list will be transmitted to the Ministers of the Tripartite Plus countries for approval and submission to the African Union and United Nations."
He added that delegates to the meeting "agreed or reaffirmed on the measures to take against sanctioned individuals and groups that have been put on the sanctions list and we have agreed on what measures to take against them.
"We have reaffirmed the need to impose travel bans on them; freeze their assets; restrict them from having fund-raising activities on our territories and limit, in the manner that we can, their mobilizing activities including through the media."
Sezibera concluded by thanking the United States for facilitating the Tripartite process and the four member nations for "the spirit of cooperation that has characterized the work of the Subcommission."
Yamamoto also remarked on the spirit of cooperation the Tripartite process seems to have engendered. "I think we’ve built up a good feeling of trust and confidence with each other in the talks. We share information about each other’s families for example. And because of that there’s a lot more commitment to getting things done now."
Speed is important now, he added, because "every day rebels operating in the region kill 1,000 people. So, you have to be serious about them; you have to apply a lot of pressure. It’s not acceptable to have these negative forces running around killing people."
For additional information about U.S. policy in the region, see Africa.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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