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Rwanda Welcomes Congo Move to Disarm Hutu Troops
Rwandan President Paul Kagame welcomed apparent moves by the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to disarm thousands of Rwandan Hutu rebels as a useful step towards peace in the region, according to a report reaching in Nairobi Tuesday.
Kagame was speaking after meeting United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan, who is touring the region in a bid to bolster the peace process in the DRC.
Annan said in the DRC's capital Kinshasa on Sunday that Congolese President Joseph Kabila had promised to show the U.N. military observer mission to the Congo (MONUC) a site in the south of the country where 3,000 Rwandan rebels had been disarmed.
"If it is true, that's a step in the right direction," Kagame told a joint news conference with Annan. "That's quite useful in helping us advance the peace process in the Congo, it is extremely useful if we can build on that and do the rest that remains to be done in concluding the peace process."
Rwanda sent troops to the DRC in 1998 because it said the country was being used as a base for Rwandan rebels to attack their homeland.
It accused the DRC government of integrating some of the Rwandan rebels, including people who led Rwanda's 1994 genocide, into its own armed forces.
Annan's visit to the DRC and Rwanda is partly aimed at helping the region's governments find a solution.
The U.N. chief said MONUC staff would work with other U.N. agencies to find out who the 3,000 men grouped in the Congolese town of Kamina are and which of them want to return to Rwanda.
"I agree with the president (Kagame), it is a step in the right direction," Annan said, adding "the mood is much more hopeful, but there are still lots and lots of difficult tasks ahead, so we should not relax and we need to persevere."
Annan arrived in Kigali, capital of Rwanda, late Monday and went straight into talks with President Paul Kagame in a bid to further the peace process in the DRC. He is scheduled to leave Kigali on Tuesday.
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