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Africa News afrol News
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Africa News afrol News
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afrol.com, 17 October - South African President Thabo Mbeki yesterday headed the one-day SADC summit in Maputo (Mozambique), were also Rwanda and Uganda were invited. After obtaining promises from Rwandan President Paul Kagame that he would pull Rwandan forces back 200 km, all the five countries with troops in Congo Kinshasa (DRC) agreed to pull back. President Mbeki confirmed that the five involved presidents had agreed to pull back their troops at least 15km from their current positions. It seems that the bettering relationship between Rwanda and South Africa have plaid a key role in negotiating this breakthrough. In August, the Rwandan National Assembly opened formal links with the South African National Assembly, and has since them worked to strengthen the bilateral links and interaction between the two countries. The improved relationship is underlined by the fact that President Mbeki will pay an official visit to Rwanda on October 18 and 19. This will be the first Official visit by a South African Head of State to Rwanda. The Maputo summit was to focus on the re-energizing the Lusaka peace process. The Lusaka peace accord, which was negotiated by all parties to the conflict, had suffered severe setbacks because of frequent ceasefire violations by the DRC government and rebels. The immediate background for the extraordinary summit, however, seems to have been the troubled Zimbabwean President Mugabe, who has some 12.000 troops supporting DRC President Kabila. Last week, Mugabe called on South Africa to convene the urgent meeting of leaders of countries taking part in the war, saying Kabila's allies were "looking for middle ground," according to The Mail and Guardian. The Government of Rwanda, however, claims to have announced proposals for a disengagement plan in the spirit of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement and the Kampala Disengagement Plan already in August. "Under the plan, the Government of Rwanda proposed to disengage troops from positions on the frontline in order to provide a clear and wide disengagement zone for the UN Observer Mission to control," President Kagame states. The Maputo Summit was attended by the the presidents of the SADC (South African Development Cooperation) countries, including the presidents of the countries involved in the conflict, Laurent Kabila of the DRC and his allies Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Sam Nujoma of Namibia. Further, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, which have troops deployed in the country supporting the rebel army Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD). The RDC rebels were not invited, as they had been to the earlier Lusaka Summits. Sourcea: South African
Govt., Rwandan Presidency, Mail & Guardian
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