Lavinia Mahlangu
30 March 2007
South Africa is working on finding a resolution to renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), says Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad.
Briefing reporters in Cape Town on Tuesday, Pahad said many countries, along with South Africa, were concerned that the DRC might slide back into civil war as a result of the latest violence in the country.
"South Africa continues to be seized with the matter," Pahad said. "Many countries are expressing deep concern that the gains made in the DRC will be undermined."
Unsuccessful presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba, who is also leader of the opposition Movement for the Liberation of Congo, has been sheltering at the South African embassy in the DRC's capital, Kinshasa, since last week, when violence erupted between members of his personal guard and government forces.
Bemba has since called the attacks an attempt on his life. Pahad said 120 lives are reported to have been lost so far in the clashes.
South Africa, the deputy minister said, would continue to provide sanctuary for Bemba "on South African property" until such time as the opposition leader saw fit. "In terms of international conventions he has taken asylum. He'll remain there until he sees fit."
Bemba, Pahad said, had been charged with high treason, while his party had called for a truce.
South Africa was a vital roleplayer in the vast central African country's move from over 40 years of unrest towards becoming a democracy through last year's elections, in which former vice-president Bemba faced off against Joseph Kabila.
Mandated by the African Union, South Africa facilitated talks between various factions and government representatives and went on to provide intensive logistical and technical support for the elections. This included printing and distributing ballot papers and providing vital IT infrastructure for the counting of votes.
South African troops are also part of the security forces of the United Nations mission in the DRC, the largest UN military presence deployed anywhere in the world.
Kabila was reinstated as the president of the resource-rich African country after run-off elections on 29 October; neither he nor Bemba garnered a majority of the votes cast at the initial polls in July.
Kabila won the run-off elections, but these results were challenged by Bemba, who alleged "systematic cheating and falsified results."
The results went before the DRC's Supreme Court on 16 November amid violence, including the torching of the court's premises. On 27 November, the court confirmed Kabila as the winner of the run-off elections, a decision South Africa urged Bemba and his party to accept.
Source: BuaNews
