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Rupiah hails Obasanjo, Mkapa over DRC peace efforts

Rupiah hails Obasanjo, Mkapa over DRC peace efforts
Written by Masuzyo Chakwe and Mwala Kalaluka
Friday, February 13, 2009 7:56:10 AM

PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday said Zambia appreciates the efforts by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo and former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa towards restoring peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

And General Obasanjo said sustainable and irreversible peace should be entrenched in eastern DRC whether rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda is extradited to that country from Rwanda or not.

Speaking when Gen Obasanjo met him at State House yesterday, President Banda said it was a great honour for Zambia to be visited by a great son and leader of Africa who was for many years leader of Nigeria.

President Banda said he knew that Gen Obasanjo had an immense task of facilitating and advising on how to solve the problem in the DRC, which had the longest border with Zambia, which meant that the efforts were for Zambia's benefit as well.

President Banda said the DRC was a very important neighbour to Zambia, with most economic assets along the border.

"So many family connections with the Congo, so many people in this country came from the Congo, when you are here you really can't tell the difference between the us and the Congolese. So we are very happy and supportive of the efforts you and your colleague president Mkapa are carrying out because it is really important for Zambia, especially at this time when the economic problems are rising from the collapse of financial system in the world as well as the collapse in the prices of our main commodity copper which we share in common with them, which means our people on both sides of the border are facing great difficulties economically, so we are all praying for you to succeed," President Banda said.

And Gen Obasanjo, who first congratulated President Banda on his election victory, said he was in the country with his delegation from the United Nations (UN) in his capacity as Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the UN to promote peace along with Mkapa in eastern DRC.

However, he said their efforts were not limited to DRC but the entire Great Lakes Region.

Gen Obasanjo said they were making headway in bringing peace to the eastern DRC as the two leaders - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and DRC's President Joseph Kabila - who could hardly talk to each other last year were cooperating and were now planning a joint operation together.

And speaking through Special Envoy to the DRC Ambassador, David Kapya at the Lusaka International Airport, Gen Obasanjo, who is the co-mediator in the DRC peace process, said he was visiting countries in the region with a view of consulting various stakeholders.

Ambassador Kapya said Gen Obasanjo, whose planned press briefing with the local press could not materialise, was also briefing the various regional leaders on the progress realised in the restoration of peace in the eastern DRC.

"We just came out of Addis Ababa last week where there was a regional summit on the margins of the African Union Summit, which released a report to the AU on the DRC peace process," Ambassador Kapya said.

He said the regional meeting was also held to get reports from the DRC and Rwandese government on their efforts over the eastern DRC conflict.

Ambassador Kapya said Gen Obasanjo's major achievement, since he embarked on his co-mediatory role in the DRC conflict last year, has been the diffusion of the tense relations between DRC and Rwanda.

"You see there has been a lot of animosity between the two countries, between the DRC and Rwanda," he said. "They were accusing each other over what we call the proxy war."

Asked how soon they would want to see the extradition of Gen Nkunda from Kigali to Kinshasa, Ambassador Kapya said the two governments are currently engaged in intense consultations on the matter.

"So whether Nkunda goes to Kinshasa or goes to Rwanda is the preserve of the two governments," he said. "Whatever happens we want to have durable, long-lasting, sustainable and irreversible peace in the DRC."

Meanwhile, President Banda said social protection as enshrined in the Fifth National Development Plan was among the government's priorities.

Commissioning 38 motor vehicles and 50 motor bikes at the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services yesterday, President Banda said the government was taking all the appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect all the children in the country from all forms of physical and mental violence, injury, abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation including sexual abuse.

Labels: DRC, LAURENT NKUNDA, OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 7:56 AM