Acte d'Engagement Gaborone

Export agreement:

Export agreement coding (PDF)

Country/entity: Democratic Republic of Congo
Region: Africa (excl MENA)
Agreement name: Acte d'Engagement Gaborone
Date: 24 Aug 2001
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/intrastate conflict
Congo Civil Wars (1996 - )
The overthrow of the long-term dictator Mobutu Sese Seko by a rebel Tutsi army backed by Uganda and Rwanda in 1997 acted as a catalyst for a war with regional dimensions, mainly fought in the eastern Kivu provinces. The conflict escalated in 1998, when President Laurent Kabila, then backed by Zimbabwean and Angolan troops, ordered Rwanda and Uganda to leave. After Kabila’s assassination in 2001, his son Joseph took over the presidency and won in the 2006 democratic elections.

In the eastern provinces, Tutsi-led militias, mainly organised in the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), fought the remnants of the Rwandan Hutu force FDLR, with further involvement of Rwandan and Ugandan troops. Other regionally operating militia groups, like the Lord’s Resistance Army from Northern Uganda, the so-called Mai Mai groups or short-lived guerrilla outfits like the March 23 Movement (M23) further contributed, and still contribute, to the complexity of the situation in eastern DRC.
Stage: Pre-negotiation/process
Conflict nature: Government
Peace process: DRC: Second Congo war process
Parties: Unsigned copy.
The parties are defined in the agreement as: The Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo Liberation Movement (Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo, MLC), the Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement pour la Démocratie, RCD), the political opposition organisations and groups, and the “life-blood” of the nation.
Third parties: In the presence of Ketumile Masire (then President of Botswana) as the neutral facilitator of the inter-congolese political negotiations
Description: This agreement between the DRC Government, the MLC, the RCD and political opposition parties covers a range of issues including liberalisation of political life, human rights and humanitarian issues, political prisoner release and suspension of military court proceedings for civilian cases, and a range of security issues.

Agreement document: CD_010824_Acted'EngagementGaberone-tr.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Agreement document (original language): CD_010824_Acted'engagementGaberone.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Main category: Nous…
- prenons l’engagement solennel et inconditionnel d’appliquer, sur toute l’étendue du territoire national, les dispositions ci-après :
…
(p. 2)
7. assurer la protection des populations civiles contre les rafles, les arrestations arbitraires, les réquisitions, les spoliations, les travaux forcés, les massacres, les bombardements aveugles, les tortures, les viols des femmes, les mutilations des enfants, les déportations et assurer l’arrêt définitif à la collaboration avec les forces génocidaires;

-------
Translation:

Page 2,
We... - solemnly and unconditionally engage to implement, on the entire national territory, the following provisions:
...
7. To ensure the protection of the civilian population against raids, arbitrary arrest, appropriations, dispossessions, forced labour, massacres, indiscriminate bombing, torture, rape of women, child mutilation and deportations, and ensure that collaboration with genocidal forces shall cease definitively;

Women, girls and gender

Participation: No specific mention.
Equality: No specific mention.
Particular groups of women: No specific mention.
International law: No specific mention.
New institutions: No specific mention.
Violence against women: Violence against women→Sexual violence
Page 2,
We... - solemnly and unconditionally engage to implement, on the entire national territory, the following provisions:
...
7. guarantee to protect the civilian populations from raids, arbitrary arrests, requisitions, spoliations, forced labour, massacres, indiscriminate bombardments, torture, the rape of women, the mutilation of children, deportations and to guarantee the definitive end to collaborations with the genocidal forces;...
Transitional justice: No specific mention.
Institutional reform: No specific mention.
Development: No specific mention.
Implementation: No specific mention.
Other: No specific mention.

Annex C:

ACT OF ENGAGEMENT

We, representing the components of the Inter-Congolese political negotiations, namely the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congo Liberation Movement (Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo, MLC), the Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement pour la Démocratie, RCD), the political opposition organisations and groups, and the “life-blood” of the nation, in the presence of Sir Ketumile MASIRE, neutral facilitator in the Inter-Congolese political negotiations;

referring to the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement signed on 10 and 30 July, and 31 August, 1999, in Lusaka, to the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on the Inter-Congolese political negotiations, and to the Declaration of Fundamental Principles signed in Lusaka on 4 May 2001 by the signatory Parties to the above Agreement;

aware that national reconciliation is above all the responsibility of the Congolese people and their leaders;

reaffirming the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and untouchability of a single and undivided Democratic Republic of Congo;

recalling our adherence to the international conventions on human rights ratified by the Democratic Republic of Congo;

wishing to agree a republican pact and as a token of good faith so that the Inter-Congolese political negotiations may proceed peacefully, and to demonstrate to the Congolese people and the international community our unquenchable desire to establish the Rule of Law in which fundamental liberties and human rights are respected;

solemnly and unconditionally undertake to implement throughout the national territory, the following provisions:

1. To ensure the immediate, effective and complete liberalisation of political and community life, to refrain from any behaviour which may compromise this liberalisation, and to encourage tolerance in political and community activities;

2. To guarantee the human rights and fundamental liberties of all citizens, in particular the right to life and physical safety, the freedom of the press and freedom of expression and opinion, and access for all to the public media;

3. To release immediately and unconditionally, under the auspices of the CICR and Congolese human rights NGOs, all detained or imprisoned political prisoners, hostages and those who have been detained or imprisoned on the basis of their origin or their political and/or legal activities in the past;

4. To guarantee the free movement of civilians and legitimate goods, and freedom to enter and leave the national territory, and provide migration documents to any citizen requesting these;

5. To Authorise or re-establish air, rail, river, lake, road, telephone and postal communication channels;

6. To immediately and unconditionally return any goods seized and/or confiscated illegally for political reasons, including buildings occupied with neither rights nor title;

7. To ensure the protection of the population against raids, arbitrary arrest, appropriations, dispossessions, forced labour, massacres, indiscriminate bombing, torture, rape of women, child mutilation and deportations, and ensure that collaboration with genocidal forces shall cease definitively;

8. To protect the nation’s heritage and resources and prevent any plundering of these resources;

9. To ensure that the provisions of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement are observed as well as the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council in order to restore peace in DRC;

10. To abstain from any activity which may interfere with the process of national reconciliation;

11. To guarantee access for humanitarian organisations to population victim groups;

12. To ensure the return of displaced and refugee population groups to their normal places of residence;

13. To refrain from using refugees for political or military purposes, and to desist from any form of provocation during the Inter-Congolese political negotiations;

14. To suspend the use of Military Jurisdictions for matters relating to the civilian population.

To this end, in order to ensure the implementation and successful outcome of the present act of engagement, we agree to establish a Monitoring Committee in which the components are equally represented, under the authority of the Facilitator in the Inter-Congolese political negotiations.

Done at Gaborone, 24 August 2001

The members of the Inter-Congolese political negotiations

Acte d'Engagement Gaborone

Women, girls and gender

Source agreement