Three militia groups in eastern Congo to lay down arms ahead of elections

KINSHASA – Three main militia groups in the strife-torn east have agreed to lay down arms and allow free passage of voters during Congo’s historic elections, the United Nations said yesterday.

Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the 17 600-troop peacekeeping force in Congo, said “several hundred” fighters will join the country’s postwar army in return for disarming and allowing the Sunday vote to go ahead in Ituri Province. “It’s a positive development.Anything that contributes to peace in Congo is good news,” said Saiki.Sunday’s elections are Congo’s first multiparty balloting for a head of state since independence in 1960, and the first vote since a series of civil wars between 1996 and 2002 that drew in several of this vast country’s neighbours.Voters will replace a transitional president and parliament that have led the country since a 2002 peace agreement that ended fighting in most of the country, though not in the east.General Mbuayama Nsiona, the commander in charge of army operations in Ituri, said the three eastern militia groups that have agreed to disarm included one led by Peter Karim, whose agreement had been previously announced.Karim’s militia was accused of capturing and later releasing seven Nepalese peacekeepers in May and is believed to include thousands of fighters.Army officials had said Karim will become a colonel in the army under the deal that saw him disarm.”We are doing all we can for the vote to pass peacefully.The agreements with these militias will allow people to vote en masse on Sunday,” Nsiona said.But Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human Rights Watch, who was in Bunia Thursday morning, said her group was “very concerned” at such dealmaking.”This will not bring peace to Ituri,” she said.”It sends a signal that if you want to become a colonel, you should pick up your gun and kill people.”Nsiona said about 500 men led by Cobra Matate also were laying down arms, as were members of the Congolese Revolutionary Movement, a coalition formed in December under Mathieu Ngudjolo and accused of most of the recent attacks.Nsiona said it was unclear how many people were in the coalition now, after about 3 500 were disarmed over the past month.Thursday morning, Nsiona said Ngudjolo was just outside Bunia with 250 militiamen preparing to hand over their arms, but that negotiations on details were still being worked out.He said it was risky to allow the militiamen close enough to fire mortars into Bunia, but believed they were negotiating in good faith.UN spokesman Saiki cautioned that other armed groups still exist in eastern Congo.The UN and Congolese forces have been trying to quell violence in the east that aid groups say contribute the needless deaths of some 1 000 civilians each day, most through strife-related disease or hunger.- Nampa-Reuters”It’s a positive development.Anything that contributes to peace in Congo is good news,” said Saiki.Sunday’s elections are Congo’s first multiparty balloting for a head of state since independence in 1960, and the first vote since a series of civil wars between 1996 and 2002 that drew in several of this vast country’s neighbours.Voters will replace a transitional president and parliament that have led the country since a 2002 peace agreement that ended fighting in most of the country, though not in the east.General Mbuayama Nsiona, the commander in charge of army operations in Ituri, said the three eastern militia groups that have agreed to disarm included one led by Peter Karim, whose agreement had been previously announced.Karim’s militia was accused of capturing and later releasing seven Nepalese peacekeepers in May and is believed to include thousands of fighters.Army officials had said Karim will become a colonel in the army under the deal that saw him disarm.”We are doing all we can for the vote to pass peacefully.The agreements with these militias will allow people to vote en masse on Sunday,” Nsiona said.But Anneke Van Woudenberg of Human Rights Watch, who was in Bunia Thursday morning, said her group was “very concerned” at such dealmaking.”This will not bring peace to Ituri,” she said.”It sends a signal that if you want to become a colonel, you should pick up your gun and kill people.”Nsiona said about 500 men led by Cobra Matate also were laying down arms, as were members of the Congolese Revolutionary Movement, a coalition formed in December under Mathieu Ngudjolo and accused of most of the recent attacks.Nsiona said it was unclear how many people were in the coalition now, after about 3 500 were disarmed over the past month.Thursday morning, Nsiona said Ngudjolo was just outside Bunia with 250 militiamen preparing to hand over their arms, but that negotiations on details were still being worked out.He said it was risky to allow the militiamen close enough to fire mortars into Bunia, but believed they were negotiating in good faith.UN spokesman Saiki cautioned that other armed groups still exist in eastern Congo.The UN and Congolese forces have been trying to quell violence in the east that aid groups say contribute the needless deaths of some 1 000 civilians each day, most through strife-related disease or hunger.- Nampa-Reuters