TPJC delegates discuss negative forces in DRC

The Tripartite Plus Joint Commission (TPJC) got underway in Kampala, Uganda, on Saturday, with most delegates expressing frustration at DRC’s failure to eliminate rebels operating on its territory.They were also baffled that Kinshasa was unwilling to let in a combined force of concerned states to flush out the negative forces, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Sources that attended a TPJC technical meeting on Saturday said DRC had confessed it was unable to deal with the marauding negative forces, and yet it maintained its stand against deployment of a joint force to rout the rebels fighting the neighbouring states.“They (Congolese) are uncooperative. Their response is totally ambiguous,” Rwanda’s Ambassador to Uganda, Ignatius Karegesa Kamali, told The New Times at Munyonyo Resort Hotel on Saturday.The ongoing TPJC meeting, which attracted delegates from all four participating countries –Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and DRC – was convened to seek strategies aimed at ending threats to regional security from negative forces as well as blacklisting the most wanted individuals.Rwandan delegates asserted that DRC had the primary responsibility to dislodge the rebels.“Rwanda wants those rebels disarmed and sent back to their respective countries. Should DRC fail, then MONUC (UN Mission in Congo) should do the job. Then we can jointly look at the issue of logistics and identify their locations for MONUC to intervene. But if MONUC cannot do it, then a joint force should be established to rout them (the rebels). Unfortunately, they (Congolese) have refused yet they say they have no capacity,” Kamali said.Dr Richard Sezibera, President Paul Kagame’s Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, who led Rwanda’s delegation to the technical meeting declined to comment. Foreign Minister Dr Charles Murigande is among the ministers attending a subsequent ministerial meeting which got underway yesterday, following the one for the security technocrats.A TPJC chief of defence meeting had agreed last month in Kigali that Kinshasa renew operations against FDLR and other rebel groups holed up on its territory. DRC’s Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dieudonne Kayembe told reporters in Kigali at that time that the Congolese army would resume the operations. He was speaking weeks after the Congolese government halted military operations against FDLR, and weeks before Kinshasa instead attacked Gen. Nkunda rebels, breaking peace efforts spearheaded by Kigali which had already culminated into the mixing of military brigades from both sides.FDLR is an amalgamation of remnants of former Rwandan army and Interahamwe militias, largely responsible for the 1994 Genocide, which claimed at least a million people.The meeting also discussed ways to raise Monuc’s capacity to disarm all the rebel groups fighting Rwanda, Burundi, DRC and Uganda.They also drafted incentives and disincentives that could be used neutralise the rebels.Kinshasa, according to sources has insisted that Congolese dissident soldier, Gen. Laurent Nkunda, be on the list of the most wanted persons in the region. The DRC reportedly said Nkunda’s forces were a destabilising group that had to be dealt with immediately. An official, who preferred anonymity, said members were yet to agree on DRC’s renewed demands to blacklist Nkunda – the man who has repeatedly accused Kinshasa of working with FDLR who he said are intended to annihilate his Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese tribe.Last week, President Kagame said that Nkunda had legitimate political grievances against the Congo government, and should not be equated with FDLR militias.Ambassador Kamali said: “President Kagame is neither pro-Nkunda nor anti-Nkunda. He is only saying that Nkunda’s concerns are legitimate, and they should be taken care of. In this meeting, what is agreeable is that Nkunda’s group is part of the negative forces. Thus we are not determining whether those groups have legitimate causes or not.”By press time, participants were yet to agree on the final list of the most wanted persons. Already up to 53 FDLR leaders are the list.Besides, Nkunda, the JTPC members were also locked up in a controversy over the alleged People’s Redemption Army (PRA), which Uganda wants to include on the common list of the most wanted persons, although other members say there is no sufficient evidence that the alleged group actually exists. In the last JTPC meeting in Lubumbashi, DRC three months ago, Uganda withdrew all her lists of wanted persons – including leaders of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) – in protest at other members’ refusal to bow to her demands to blacklist alleged PRA leaders. Apart from the aforementioned groups, other targeted negative forces are FNL Parpehutu fighting the government of Burundi. The meeting is set to close today.Ends

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TPJC delegates discuss negative forces in DRC