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October 11, 2013 (KAMPALA) - A peace agreement that was supposed be signed between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the defeated March 23(M23) rebels flopped Monday evening after the DRC delegation reportedly said it needed more time to study the peace document.
The deal under the mediation of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was supposed to be signed at State House, Museveni’s official residence in the town of Entebbe, about 37 kilometres southwest of the capital Kampala.
‘‘DRC delegation has aborted the signing of agreement with M23. Meeting adjourned sine dine’’, said Ofwono Opondo, the Uganda government spokesperson in a series of posts on Twitter on Monday night.
‘‘President Museveni flew from Karamoja to witness & host the signing of the agreement but was kept waiting for over 4 hours’’, Ofwono Opono added.
Karamoja is a semi-arid region located in north-eastern Uganda. The region borders South Sudan and Kenya.
The M23 rebels were last week defeated by the Congolese army with support of a United Nations brigade comprising of soldiers from Tanzania and South Africa.
The rebel group thereafter dissolved itself and said it was ready to disarm, demobilise and integrate into the Congolese army.
In a post on their official social media accounts, the M23 appeared to put the blame on the flopped peace talks on the DRC government.
‘‘DRC Government doesn’t want to sign deal as long as word ’agreement’ is not removed,’’ the vangushed rebel group said.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the United Nations were among the observers at the failed siging of the peace agreement.
Following the defeat of the M23 their commander, Sultani Makenge and about 1,600 fighters crossed into Uganda.
Makenge is indicted for war crimes but Uganda has said it will not hand him over to the Congo government saying that will be determined by the outcome of the peace deal.
A United Nations group of experts and the DRC government accused Rwanda and Uganda of supporting the rebels something analysts say has made the Congo government suspicious of the Kampala peace talks under Museveni’s mediation. Uganda and Rwanda have denied the accusations
With the rebels defeated, the DRC government seems reluctant to sign a peace agreement with the now defunct M23 arguing that the group no longer exists having dissolved itself.
(ST)
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