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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Agreement reached to end Congo war |
| 2002-07-23 |
| Congolese and Rwandan officials announced they had reached an agreement to end a four-year war in Congo that has claimed more than 2 million lives, but rebel leaders warned that peace could remain elusive. That's a few more than we bumped off in Afghanistan, too, even by accident... The deal, reached after five days of talks mediated by South Africa's Deputy President Jacob Zuma and announced Monday, is the latest attempt to end a conflict that has embroiled six African nations and defied resolution efforts by mediators from around the world. The agreement commits the Congolese government to rounding up and disarming Hutu militias in territories under its control and sending them back to Rwanda. The Hutu militia, known as Interahamwe, were responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide that left more than 500,000 people dead. Rwanda has consistently made the return of the Interahamwe a condition for withdrawing its troops from Congolese soil. I doubt if it'll be easy to round the bastards up, since Rwanda's probably looking forward to seeing their heads on stakes. So now we have an agreement, and it's all over but the shootin'... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |