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African Countries Agree to Deploy Peacekeeping Force in DRC
Eight African countries agreed on Wednesday to deploy a non-allied military force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) immediately after the withdrawal of foreign forces from the central African country.
The decision was declared in a statement issued in the Libyan capital of Tripoli Wednesday evening at the end of an African summit on peace and stability in the Great Lakes region.
The two-day summit was attended by presidents of Mali, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, as well as representatives of Angola, the DRC, Namibia and South Africa, under the invitation of Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi.
Under the agreement reached at the summit, the proposed peacekeeping force will disarm and dismantle armed groups in the DRC as a prelude to their reintegration into the society, the Libyan News Agency quoted the statement as saying.
The Ugandan and Rwandan forces, as well as other foreign troops, will be pulled out from the DRC under the Lusaka peace accords signed in July and August, and will be replaced by the non-allied African forces that will take charge of the safety of the DRC's borders with Uganda and Rwanda.
The African summit entrusted Ghaddafi with the follow-up of the implementation of the agreement.
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