Rebels urged to pull out of Goma, DR Congo

KAMPALA - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila, Rwanda's Paul Kagame and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday urged the M23 rebels to pull out of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu in eastern DRC.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who is the chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region told reporters here at the end of their two-day meeting here that a detailed pull out plan would be given to the rebels.

"The rebels should get out of the town in a plan which we shall give them, there will be a force to observe that nobody violates the ceasefire," he said.

He said a safe passage would be given to the rebels and efforts would be made to ensure that they are not attacked during the pull out.

In the joint communique, the leaders said that although the M23 have legitimate concerns, they must stop their expansionism.

"Even if there were legitimate grievances by the mutinying group known as the M23, they cannot accept the expansion of this war or entertain the idea of overthrowing the legitimate government of the DRC or undermining its authority," the communique said.

Museveni said that after the M23 pulls out Goma, the DRC government will show the region how it plans to address the problem of negative forces in the eastern part of the country.

Asked whether he would negotiate with the M23 rebels as they demand, DRC's President Joseph Kabila said he would follow the region's mechanism to ensure that peace prevails in the troubled part of the country.

Rwanda's Paul Kagame said that instead of countering accusations of who is fanning the crisis, it is better to find solutions to the problems.

"One way of dealing with such complex problems is to really exercise responsibility and sometimes assume responsibility and also take ownership. It is always useful not to blame others for all your problems even when your problems may be because of you," he said.

He said that for the problems based in DRC, they must be addressed by the people of DRC themselves.

The M23 rebels on Tuesday captured Goma. The fighting has internally displaced 475,000 people and forced 75,000 others to seek refuge in neighboring Rwanda and Uganda, according to a recent report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Rwanda on Tuesday called for political dialogue between M23 and the DRC government to end the ongoing conflict in the eastern region of the country.