Congo, Rwanda to Sign Peace Pact on Tuesday

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 29, 2002

Congo, Rwanda to Sign Peace Pact on Tuesday

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda will sign a peace agreement in Pretoria on Tuesday, the South African presidency announced on Sunday.

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda will sign a peace agreement in Pretoria on Tuesday, the South African presidency announced on Sunday.

"The signing ceremony is expected to be attended by the presidents of the DRC and Rwanda as well as by a special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations," the office of President Thabo Mbeki said in a statement.

"We hope that for the first time there is a political will to implement the peace agreement which will address the security concerns of Rwanda while ensuring the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the statement said.

The ceremony will be held at 3:00 p.m. (1300 GMT), it said.

The pact is aimed at ending four years of war in the DRC, whichhas dragged in seven other African nations and has left some 2.5 million people dead, most of whom were civilians.

This peace agreement followed five-day negotiations in Pretoria between delegates from two countries.

According to the new peace settlement, former Rwanda troops hiding out in the eastern DRC will be disarmed and regrouped, while Rwanda will withdraw its 20,000 soldiers from the DRC.

Therefore, under the deal, DRC's sovereignty and integrity were guaranteed while Rwanda ensured its security.

In April, the DRC government held a fifty-day-long peace talks with rebel groups and opposition parties in South Africa's resort place Sun City.

But Kinshasa government only managed to sign a power-sharing pact with smaller rebel groups, the Ugandan-backed rebel Congolese Liberation Movement and some opposition political parties, and failed to make a peace deal with the Congolese Rally for Democracy(RCD) and their Rwandan supporters.

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