Regional leaders should "recommit to peace"

Political leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its neighbours need to recommit to peace to check rising tensions, a security analyst told IRIN on Monday. Henry Boschof, a security expert at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said an upcoming mission by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) to the DRC should urge "all the signatories to the Sun City agreement to recommit to peace". Following failed efforts to end the civil conflict through dialogue, the DRC government and rebel groups met last year at Sun City, South Africa, and unanimously endorsed a transitional constitution to govern the country for two years. However, a series of security upheavals in recent weeks, including the capture of the eastern town of Bukavu by dissidents and a coup attempt, has threatened the fragile peace agreement and analysts fear the central African country could slip back into civil war, dragging in its neighbours. South African President President Thabo Mbeki expressed concern on Monday about a "potentially catastrophic war" between the DRC and Rwanda. "The United Nations has confirmed that the Congolese government was moving a large number of soldiers" to the east of the country, near the Rwandan border. "I will have to do a lot of phoning around about this," he was quoted by the SAPA news agency as saying. In the aftermath of the attempted coup on 11 June, SADC announced that it would send a mission to the DRC to assess the security situation. The SADC delegation, led by South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, was scheduled to leave on Monday but the trip was postponed because the Congolese Defence Minister, Jean-Pierre Ondekane, was in South Africa. Lesotho and Mozambique, which complete the SADC's troika for the Organ of Politics, Defence and Security, are also expected to visit neighbouring Rwanda. DRC President Joseph Kabila has accused Rwanda of being behind the renegade soldiers who captured Bukavu in the volatile eastern DRC earlier this month. "It is equally important that Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, who all have a vested interest in regional political stability, should also be involved in a broad-based meeting with key players in the DRC. This would ensure that nobody is left out of the solution to the problem," said Boschof. Another concern was the failure of the international community to formulate a "united response" to the deteriorating conditions in the DRC. "Although there has been a lot of response from international organisations, it appears chaotic. The SADC mission should try to consolidate all of these responses and present a united strategy to solve the troubles," Boschof commented. The growing tensions were reportedly the result of rising frustration over the slow pace at which the transitional authorities were implementing reforms, particularly security sector changes. On Friday South Africa agreed to assist the DRC with the integration and training of its armed forces.