Talks bid slows deployment
MOVES to deploy a 3,000-strong force to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to “neutralise” M23 rebels appear to be slowing because of efforts to restart negotiations.
MOVES to deploy a 3,000-strong force of South African, Tanzanian and Malawian troops to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to “neutralise” M23 rebels and smaller armed factions appear to be slowing because of 11th-hour efforts to restart negotiations between antagonists in the Great Lakes.
Foreign policy experts of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) said they still supported the planned intervention brigade, but hard questions about the operation needed to be answered.
“Yes, there will be deployment of a special force under the United Nations (UN),” the ruling party’s national chairwoman, Baleka Mbete, said yesterday. She and colleague Lindiwe Zulu, a special adviser to President Jacob Zuma, were in SA’s delegation for the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa on May 26-27.
The new brigade’s composition, its unprecedented “peaceenforcement” mandate for 12 months and its funding, were all ironed out long ago. The UN Security Council approved them on March 28.
Two months later, there is still no firm date for when the troops and military hardware will be ready for action.
The headquarters will be in Goma, the eastern Congo’s lakeside capital which was overrun by battle-hardened M23 men last year without resistance from UN peacekeepers.
After this humiliation, SA and other African countries insisted on a new and hard-nosed force to take the fight to the rebels. Now, besides the onerous logistics of deploying the force, some fundamental rationales appear to be back under discussion.
“This is about more than just the conflict with M23. There’s also the question about whether neighbouring countries are supporting any faction,” Ms Zulu told yesterday’s media briefing.
She was apparently referring to accusations by security council experts last year that M23 was strongly backed by both Rwanda and Uganda. Both governments denied they were supporting the armed enemies of President Joseph Kabila of the Congo.
Ms Zulu said there were still questions about the Congo government’s ability to govern the entire country and whether agreements in the region are implemented. The interrogation implied SA is unsure if Mr Kabila, who is considered one of its close regional allies, is sincerely trying to win hearts and minds in the war-weary east, an area far from his political heartland.
Such questions go to the heart of the long conflict in the Great Lakes. They may also indicate misgivings within ANC ranks about the Congo intervention because of the intense public and parliamentary debates since 14 South African troops were killed in the Central African Republic.
Analysts agree that the political cost of more body bags returning to Pretoria, this time from Congo, would be high.
M23 military commander Sultani Makenga, said this week his troops would not target the UN brigade but would defend themselves if needed. But a month ago the rebel outfit openly urged the South Africans not to join the brigade saying they will “meet fire with fire”.
He said reviving stalled peace talks in neighbouring Uganda was the only way to break the military deadlock in the eastern Congo.
A flurry of renewed talks is expected to get under way after a Great Lakes meeting in Addis last Sunday on the margins of the AU summit. “A lot of progress has been made … the Congo is going to be fixed,” Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said afterwards.
UN secretary-general Ban Kimoon was more cautious, saying that despite progress, promises had to be implemented.
Earlier he went to Goma, after clashes between M23 and the Congo’s low-rated regular army, and visited a hospital where women and girls are treated in one of the rape capitals of the world.
David Zounmenou, of the Institute for Strategic Studies, said a delayed date of July for deployment of the UN brigade would make time for complex negotiations involving Rwanda, the Congo and Uganda.
“I think people really want to act in parallel — to push negotiations while the deployment is gradually happening,” Mr Zounmenou said. With Reuters and AFP