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Mkapa calls for AU and UN to disarm Interahamwe in DRC
Date: 20th-October 2005
By our correspondent
 The Tanzanian president Benjamin William Mkapa has called upon The African Union and The United Nations to disarm the armed groups who committed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and who are now hiding in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. President Mkapa made the call in Kigali Rwanda, where he paid a two day state visit starting on October 18, 2005.
“ I want to affirm the imperative of The African Union and The United Nations living up to their commitment to see to the disarmament of the remnants of the Interahamwe in the DRC” Mkapa said in his address during a state banquet organised in his honor by his host, Paul Kagame.
Mkapa’s visit to Rwanda in the twilight of his administration as president of Tanzania was expressed as a chance to convey his gratitude for years of very good bilateral relations between Tanzania and Rwanda. As he bid his farewell, he asked that the same be axtended to his successor. The Rwandan President Paul Kagame praised the contribution made by Tanzania to the effort of searching for peace in the region, and said that although Mkapa’s wisdom will be missed, his hope is that Tanzania’s commitment will remain.
The two presidents said that they were pleased that the process of peace and democratisation are gaining momentum in the great lakes region, despite a few remaining elements of insurgence and distabilisation posed by several armed groups. President Paul Kagame appealed for those groups who have not yet joined the peace process in Burundi to do so. Concerning the impending elections in the DRC, the Rwandan president said that they can not be held successfully, while the Interahamwe militia are still at large.
“For peaceful elections to take place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is essential that the armed groups especially those who committed genocide in Rwanda in 1994 be disarmed. It is in nobody’s interests that these groups continue to hold the region at ransom” He said.
President Benjamin Mkapa put forward the Dar es Salaam Declaration as a framework for dealing with those issues in the region, especially along Rwanda-DRC border. He said, “I believe that given political will on both sides the reactivated border joint verification mechanism between Rwanda and the DRC can help to adequately address remaining issues of concern along your common border.
The presidents of Rwanda and Tanzania reiterated their commitment to cooperate in areas of trade and infrastructure, the key and strategic framework of this cooperation being the central transport corridor project that will see the construction of the proposed railway line from Isaka to Kigali. President Mkapa left it for his successor and President Kagame to fulfil that task, which he called “a priority among priorities”.
While in Rwanda, the visiting Tanzanian president who was accompanied by his wife visited the Kigali genocide memorial centre, and held a meeting with Tanzanians leaving in Rwanda. Before his departure, he addressed a joint session of the Rwandan parliament.
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