African leaders meet to discuss DR Congo crisis

African leaders went into talks Monday to discuss the possibility of reinforcing a UN special brigade deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as rebels there are forced onto the back foot.

South African President Jacob Zuma opened the talks urging his fellow leaders “to continue to do everything we can to act together in partnership, to respond to the urgent challenges of restoring peace and stability”.

Zuma is hosting leaders from the 15-country Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and some of DR Congo’s neighbours at the summit in Pretoria.

The 3,000-strong UN intervention brigade in eastern DR Congo is drawn in roughly equal numbers from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania. It is designed to help Congo’s army quell the rebellions in the region.

“Important initiatives are being undertaken …. and buttressed by the United Nations framework for peace and security in the DRC and the Great Lakes to reach a political resolution to the fundamental causes of instability in the region,” said Zuma in his opening remarks.

“Additionally the UN intervention brigade has now been fully deployed with the mandate to restore stability to the east of the DRC.”

Presidents from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe are among those at the Pretoria meeting.

Analysts say the meeting is aimed at mapping out ways to drive out the M23 rebels, amid a major assault by Congolese forces against the rebellion.

“The meeting is a final coordinating meeting between SADC and Great Lakes countries,” said Martin Rupiya, executive director of the Pretoria-based African Public Policy and Research Institute.

“They think M23 is on the rocks,” says Rupiya, “the main agenda is to finish off” the rebels.

Congolese troops on Monday drove the rebels from key hilltop positions in the east of the country.

Die-hard fighters of the rebel group have been holed up in the mountainous region bordering Uganda since their base in the town of Bunagana was seized on Wednesday.

The United Nations regularly accuses neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda of covertly supporting the rebels, a claim they virulently deny.

Rupiya said the meeting will show a united SADC focused on ending the M23 rebellion and winding down peacekeeping operations.

“There has been some military success on the ground,” said Rupiya, “it appears now is the clearest opportunity for the resolution of the conflict.”

But Trevor Maisiri, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, a non-profit research organisation said it may be too early to sound the all-clear.

“They’re going to be shouting from the rooftops about it, but we may see other eruptions a few weeks down the line,” he said, noting that the M23 was just one of many armed, rebel groups in the region.

“As much as defeating M23 is a significant event, I don’t know how much it will help secure stability as there are other groups in the region,” he said, “all we are saying is we need to be cautious.”

On Tuesday, South Africa is hosting a separate summit to talk about the formation of an African stand-by force to be deployed during crises.