A rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo is urging the government to quickly implement a
recently signed peace agreement.
The
National Council for the Defense of the People rebel group (CNDP) is accusing
Kinshasa of failing to keep its part of the accord.
Under the signed deal,
Kinshasa is expected to devise a comprehensive amnesty law, release captured rebels and retrain them before
integrating them into the national army. Rebel officials are to be included into the government of North Kivu province in the east of the country.
In return, the CNDP promised to have its fighters lay down their arms and become a political party.
Chairman
of the CNDP rebels, Desiree Kamanzi, said that the
government is abdicating its responsibility for carrying out the deal.
For example, he said the prisoner release
enshrined in the agreement has not gone well.
"Prisoners have been
released (but) only few of them. But when we look at the agreement, they should
have been released a long time ago. And when they are released, they are not
transported to the places where they come from (as stipulated in the
agreement)," he said.
Kamanzi said the rebel
movement is struggling to take care of the former combatants.
"The CNDP is trying its own best
to take care of them (rebels) with the few means that we have," Kamanzi said.
Kamanzi said there is a need
for the government to expedite the process begun in March that ended frequent
clashes with the national army in Congo's restive North Kivu province.
He
urged Kinshasa to keep its side of the agreement.
"We
need to see the government do more than what we are seeing right now," he said.
The government denies that is not implementing its side of the agreement.