DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: REBEL LEADER JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA ARRIVES PUSHING FORWARD PEACE PROCESS

Record ID: 590756

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: REBEL LEADER JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA ARRIVES PUSHING FORWARD PEACE PROCESS
  • Date: 18th July 2003
  • Summary: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (JULY 15, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV AIRPORT; SLV SIGN SHOWING CONGO AIRPORT; SLV CROWD OF PEOPLE AT AIRPORT (3 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SLV UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS ON GUARD, SEATED IN ARMOURED VEHICLE 0.16 3. SLV PLANE OF LEADER OF UGANDAN-BACKED MLC REBEL GROUP JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA'S, SOLDIERS AND PEOPLE WAITING 0.20 4. MV JEAN PIERRE BEMBA DESCENDING FROM PLANE TOGETHER WITH OTHER PARTY OFFICIALS 0.24 5. MV PEOPLE CARRYING BANNER AND SINGING PRAISES OF JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA; MV PLACARD IN FRENCH WHICH READS "WE ARE FRIENDS OF MLC"; MV BEMBA GREETING CROWD (4 SHOTS) 0.42 6. SLV HUMAN RING OF SOLDIERS PROTECTING JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA'S; SLV CROWD IN STREET AS BEMBA'S CAR DRIVES PAST; SLV ARMED UNITED NATIONS SOLDIERS ON GUARD (3 SHOTS) 0.56 7. MV JEAN-PIERRE BEMBA SALUTING CROWD; SLV BEMBA AND CROWD; SLV DRUMMERS (3 SHOTS) 1.14 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 2nd August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVA75HOC8VRLUYV2DZZG0E3XOEJ0
  • Story Text: The leader of Congo's second largest rebel group has
    arrived in the capital Kinshasa, nudging forward a peace
    process aiming to end almost five years of war.

    Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of the Ugandan-backed rebel
    group, Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), arrived in
    Kinshasa on Tuesday (July 15, 2003), to jubilation from thousands
    of supporters.

    He is the leader of Congo's second largest rebel group,
    the Ugandan-backed MLC rebels. The MLC controls most of the
    northern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and have
    been involved in various atrocities in the DRC.

    Bemba is due to be sworn in as one of four vice-presidents
    on Thursday (July 17) in a transitional government aiming to
    shepherd the country to democratic elections in two year's
    time.

    The new government aims to end Congo's four-year war,
    which has already claimed over three million lives and aims to
    shepherd the country back to democratic elections in two
    years' time.

    Congo's war erupted in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda invaded
    to back rebel groups. At its height, the conflict drew in six
    foreign armies, fuelling a humanitarian catastrophe in the
    former Zaire.

    A peace deal for the Democratic Republic of Congo was
    agreed in April, but fighting has continued in the northeast,
    where a mainly French force has been deployed to protect
    civilians in the town of Bunia from ethnic massacres.

    Under the peace accord, all sides agreed to join a
    power-sharing administration, including Congolese President
    Joseph Kabila's supporters, rebels, the civilian opposition
    and civil society groups.

    The issue of how the military regions will be drawn up is
    still unresolved.

    The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been
    fuelled by Rwanda and Uganda who have both supported various
    rebel groups and armed factions in their bid to dominate the
    mineral rich east of the country.


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