   |
|
afrol News, 7 October - The Rwandan government today announced that its last soldiers had pulled out of Congo Kinshasa (DRC) two days ago. This had been witnessed by international observers. Rwanda claims to have achieved its war aims in Congo. The Rwandan government has issued a statement where it says it "wishes to inform the international community at large that it has withdrawn all its troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo." According to the statement, "the last Rwandan soldier left the DRC territory through Goma-Gisenyi border at around 13h30 Saturday, 05 October 2002 where most Diplomatic and Consular Missions, United Nations Agencies and other International and National Organisations and NGOs were represented to witness the withdrawal." The Rwandan government further stressed that the withdrawal of its troops "complies with the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement of July 1999 and the Pretoria Agreement of July 2002." The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, holds that his country now has "fulfilled all its commitments as required by those various agreements and UN Resolutions within the given timeframe, especially by the Pretoria Agreement of 30 July, 2002 and the 90 days calendar most observers had wrongly judged over-ambitious." The Rwandan government says it now "impatiently awaits to see other signatories genuinely doing what they have agreed to do with regard to bringing peace in the DRC and in the region by specifically effecting the full fledged deployment of Phase 3 of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC)." The government communiqué was especially calling on the Congolese government "to globally and swiftly fulfil its engagements to track down, put in assembly areas, identify, disarm and demobilise the ex-FAR and Interahamwe to avoid any recurrence of hostilities in the region." The ex-FAR and Interahamwe troops were responsible of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and have since then operated from Congo, with active Congolese government support. Rwanda says it "stands firm to its commitments and as by the recent past it will never mortgage the security and sovereignty of its people." The Rwandan government in other words says it is ready to re-invade eastern Congo if the Congolese government does not disarm the ex-FAR and Interahamwe groups. Recently, the Rwandan government however claimed it had achieved its war goals in Congo Kinshasa. It had managed to crush the ex-FAR and Interahamwe troops and hinder them to infiltrate Rwandan soils from their Congolese bases. It had also managed to bring inner peace to Rwanda, making reconstruction possible. Sources: Based on Rwandan
govt, UN and afrol archives
|
