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East/Subsaharan Africa
CONGO: Gov't, Rebels Agree on Unified Military
2003-06-30
Warring sides in Congo agreed Sunday on the formation of a unified military, resolving one of the last major sticking points in the central African nation's peace agreement, a U.N. envoy said. Moustapha Niasse, special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the government and two main rebel groups agreed to divide major military posts.
This way they can fight each other more effectively.
The development paved the way for a new national unity government to be formed "very soon," Niasse said. The government retains the top post of military chief of staff along with the position of head of naval forces. The two major rebel forces will each receive one of the other top posts. The Congolese Rally for Democracy will appoint the head of ground forces while the Congolese Liberation Movement gets the chief of air forces.
I'd take the army myself, but Al-Aska Paul prolly wants the air force. With his Cessna that will double the size of the Congolese Air Force.
A government negotiator, Vital Kamerhe, said the concessions were necessary for the country. "We have minimized the risks (of war) by accepting the loss of a small post in forming an army for all Congolese," Kamerhe said. Congo's government and rebel groups signed a December power-sharing according meant to lead Congo out of a devastating 5-year-old war and into democracy. Control of the military had been one of the major contentions blocking the transition government called for in the accord.
If you don't control the military, how y'gonna stage a coup d'etat? You have to start from scratch, in the bush, eating people and stealing guns until the shipments arrive from Libera...
Earlier Sunday, the largest Congolese rebel group said insurgents would begin withdrawing from areas in eastern Congo, in line with an agreement aimed at ending fighting in the region. The Congolese Rally for Democracy will begin withdrawing from three towns in North Kivu province it seized earlier this month from a smaller rebel faction, said Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga, a spokesman for the larger group. The smaller faction has allied itself to the Congolese government, and its fighters, along with government forces, also will begin pull back from positions in the region, the spokesman said from rebel headquarters in Goma, in eastern Congo. 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.
To be superceded next week with a new agreement to quell the next round of fighting.
Posted by:Steve White

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