The largest Congolese rebel group was expected to begin withdrawing troops yesterday from areas it had seized in eastern Congo in line with an agreement supposed to end fighting in the region, a rebel spokesman said.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy, or RCD, was to begin withdrawing from three towns in North Kivu province it seized earlier this month from a smaller rebel faction, the Congolese Rally for Democracy-ML, or RCD-ML, said RCD spokesman Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga.
PHOTO: AP
The RCD-ML has allied itself to the Congolese government. Government and RCD-ML troops also were expected to begin to pull back from their positions in the region yesterday, Kisanga said by telephone from RCD headquarters in Goma, in eastern Congo.
It was not immediately possible to contact government officials.
The withdrawals are in line with a June 19 agreement signed by the two rebel factions and the government to end weeks of fresh fighting in the region.
It is hoped that the agreement will pave the way for the pull out of government troops from eastern Congo in compliance with a 1999 cease-fire deal that was supposed to end the 5-year civil war in Congo, Kisanga said.
The often-violated 1999 cease-fire -- signed by the government, rebels and foreign countries backing them -- forbade all sides from deploying troops beyond positions they held when the accord was signed.
But government troops, which controlled western and central parts of Congo, were deployed in eastern Congo in early 2001 after forging an alliance with RCD-ML.
Amos Namanga Ngongi, head of the UN mission in Congo, said that ending the fighting in North Kivu would help efforts to set up a transitional government which is supposed to rule until Congo holds democratic elections in two years.
"The agreement is significant because if North Kivu is burning, it will be very difficult to expect key players to discuss in good faith the installation of transitional institutions," Ngongi said by telephone from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.
President Joseph Kabila's administration and the main rebels groups signed an agreement in April that committed them to establishing the transitional government. But the process has been delayed by disagreements over control of key posts in a new national military.
However, Kisanga said the government and the three main rebels groups -- the RCD, RCD-ML and the Congolese Liberation Movement, or MLC -- reached an agreement on Saturday.
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