PRESS CONFERENCE BY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF UGANDA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF UGANDA

Amama Mbabazi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Uganda, said at a Headquarters press conference this morning that, contrary to the "pervasive pessimism of the international community outside", progress was being made to resolve the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Uganda was quite optimistic that sooner or later a solution would be found, he added. He also said Uganda had proposed a national conference with the participation of all political forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr. Mbabazi said that, in a speech this afternoon in the General Assembly, he would list a number of areas where agreement had been reached in recent regional talks on the conflict. Those included a ceasefire, deployment of an international peacekeeping forces, withdrawal of all foreign troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and action on the security concerns of neighbouring countries. All belligerents in the country must participate in reaching an understanding and sign it.

Mr. Mbabazi said Uganda's involvement in the conflict was mainly due to its security concerns and dated back to the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko. Uganda had continuously been destabilized by attacks emanating from Congolese territory, and had had to respond. "In fact, it was those events that brought about the fall of Mobuto and the ascension to power by President Laurent Kabila", he said. The Minister welcomed the legitimacy accorded to Uganda's security concerns by regional governments and by the international community at large. At the regional level, he said a ministerial committee would be set up to look into those concerns with a view to establishing a mechanism to stop cross-border destabilization actions.

"So, we are quite hopeful that we have gone a long way towards resolving this particular problem which was the cause, in the first place, in taking us into the Congo", he said. There was the other problem of genocide. He said there was a constellation of criminal gangs who had been mobilized as military units in support of President Kabila and the alliance led by Zimbabwean forces of President Robert Mugabe. In Uganda's view, the problem of genocide had to be resolved. "As long as there's genocide, as long as one group of people feel entitled to exterminate another group, obviously, we'll have no choice but to act in self-defence, even survival."

Responding to questions, Foreign Minister Mbabazi said that, in Uganda's view, those who committed genocide could be grouped into two categories: the authors, or the initiators; and those who implemented it. The focus should be on the authors.

The Minister told a correspondent that he was not aware of a widespread perception that the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was being exacerbated by forces external to Africa, especially corporate interests.

A correspondent asked whether there was a likelihood that certain African armies being trained by the United States would eventually be turned into a peacekeeping force. The correspondent also wanted to know whether the training was useful to Ugandan troops, whether they were fighting in southern Sudan or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Minister said Uganda was "an enthusiastic supporter of the idea". He observed that, for years, African States had looked to the outside world for assistance in resolving their problems and now thought it was "high time we develop the capacity to sort out our own problems ourselves". All African States required was help to develop that capacity. The training offered by the United States was essentially to help African forces in peacekeeping roles. Uganda fully supported the idea.

Replying to another question, Mr. Mbabazi said agreement had been reached on the participation of the Congolese rebels in negotiations leading to the signing of a ceasefire agreement. The question was how they should be involved in those negotiations: whether by proximity talks or direct involvement. That was the debate that was currently going on, he said. He also said that the major obstacle to the resolution of the conflict -- the external factors -- had "more or less been handled". There were "loose ends" which had to be tied up.

He said the conflict also had an internal dimension which had to be resolved. There must be a national conference with the participation of all political forces in the country. "So we are proposing an all-inclusive national conference that would determine the political future of the Congo, and this must be done by the Congolese themselves." Uganda was happy that President Kabila, who had, hitherto, been "vehemently opposed to the idea, had now accepted it". It was a good step.

He also said that Uganda would accept the presence of a United Nations peacekeeping force to be interposed between the opposing forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but not along the borders. He said the Congolese Government controlled about 60 per cent of the country.

He said there was a proposal that, upon the signing of a ceasefire agreement, the rebels should disarm and President Kabila should assume administrative control of the entire Congolese territory. He said the rebels, as could be imagined, did not accept that proposal, which was unrealistic in Uganda's view. If after several months President Kabila's forces had failed to control the country and was losing territory every day, "it is unrealistic to expect that they would regain that territory by a mere ceasefire agreement", he said.

Uganda Press Conference - 3 - 23 March 1999

Uganda's idea was that, once agreement was signed to cease hostilities, the combatants should remain where they were; an interposition force should be installed; and each opposing force should be assembled in camps where the neutral interposition force would register them and their arms. "If that happens, then one would expect the Interahamwe [the Hutu militia] to be assembled in camps and registered", he said. He added that it would be up to the international community, through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, to look out "for these guys who have a few questions to answer". Those who qualified as refugees should be registered as such under the terms of the Geneva Convention dealing with refugees, he added.

Mr. Mbabazi told a questioner that at the rate the rebels were moving, it was possible that they could reach the Congolese capital of Kinshasa.

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