Warring Factions in Congo Honor Step in Cease-Fire Pact

All sides in Congo’s civil war have started pulling back from a northern battle zone, the United Nations said Wednesday, confirming compliance with a key step in a cease-fire accord.

U.N. officials said that Congolese government troops were withdrawing from along the Ubangi River, meaning that the rebels and armies of six nations fighting the 2 1/2-year war had all started clearing out of key combat areas.

Armed U.N. troops are to move in Wednesday, enforcing a 9-mile buffer zone around the former battle sites.

“All belligerents are disengaging, and this is a motive of satisfaction,” Regis Barman, a military spokesman for the U.N. mission in Congo, said in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

Barman indicated that there had been skirmishes but said that they “did not turn into real fighting.”

“All fronts are stable and quiet,” he added.

A U.N. statement Tuesday said disengagement orders were sent to Congolese troops only last Thursday, the day all sides were to have started their withdrawals.

Gen. Francois Olenga, commander of the Congolese ground forces, said government troops had started disengaging “everywhere,” but he refused to give details.

Still, disengagement is far ahead on the Rwandan side.

According to the United Nations, Rwandan troops have made a 75-mile withdrawal in the southern province of Katanga from Pweto to Pepa, farther north. The first deployment of U.N. troops will go to Kalemie, in southeastern Congo, Barman confirmed. U.N. officials plan to establish a headquarters there.

Congo’s war started when Rwanda and Uganda, backed by rebels within Congo, took up arms to oust Congo’s then-president, Laurent Kabila. Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola joined in on Kabila’s side.

The war has displaced 2 million Congolese.