Agreement Promises Peace for Congo, Rwanda

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (July 31, 2002) - The leaders of Congo and Rwanda have signed a peace agreement that is being hailed as a major milestone in efforts to end a war that has gone one since 1998, Covenant News Service has learned.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila signed the agreement with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in a ceremony Tuesday. South African President Thabo Mbeki and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered the agreement between Rwanda and Congo.

The Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM), which has more than 156,000 members, and others in the war-torn region stand to benefit greatly from a promise of peace and political stability, ending years of looting and threats to personal safety.

Rwanda will pull an estimated 30,000 troops from Congo in exchange for Congo repatriating thousands of Rwandan rebels who have used the country as a base for attacks on Rwanda, according to the agreement. Rwandan Hutu militia fled into Congo after taking part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that killed more than 500,000 people, most from the Tutsi minority. Under the agreement, Congo is to begin rounding up Hutu militia fighters 30 days following the signing. Rwanda's withdrawal will begin 15 days later and is to be completed in 45 days.

Analysts warn that it will require serious commitment from all parties to end a war fueled by the plundering of Congo's vast natural resources. Disarming militiamen roving in remote jungles will be no easy task either. Longtime Covenant missionary in Congo, Bob Thornbloom, concurs.

"It's a good idea as an objective, but there are thousands of Rwandans scattered along the eastern border and it will be difficult-to-nearly-impossible to round them up," said Thornbloom, who traveled to Congo in February after a volcano erupted in Goma. "Even while Rwandan forces are there, the rebels are still disturbing the peace. But the Congo natives will be glad to see the Rwandan forces leave (the eastern border area) and they will probably cooperate with the Congo forces in helping expel the rebel forces. In that sense, it's an optimistic thing."

War broke out in Congo in August 1998 when Rwanda and Uganda backed Congolese rebels seeking to oust then-President Laurent Kabila, accusing him of supporting rebels who threatened their security. Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia sent troops to support the central Congo government.

An estimated 2.5 million people have died in the conflict in the resource-rich nation, mainly from war-induced hunger and disease. Six nations joined the fray, including Rwanda and Uganda, which took up arms against the Congo government, and Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, which supported Congo.

(Editor's note: For a closer, detailed look at the conflict in Congo and the impact it has had on the people, visit The Covenant Companion segment on the home page of this web site. The archived June issue contains a first-person account by Deric Gilliard who visited Congo in March, as well as Bob Smietana's article looking at the situation five years after the fall of President Mobutu Sese Seko's government.)

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