GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Rival groups in Democratic Republic of Congo reaffirmed Tuesday their commitment to a ceasefire, despite it being violated the day before by violence in the troubled province of Nord-Kivu.
"The situation is calm this morning. No new incident has been reported," Sylvie van den Wildenburg, the local spokesperson for the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUC), told AFP.
The warring factions minimised the violence, which occurred Monday when representatives from the different camps were meeting for a second consecutive day in the Nord-Kivu capital of Goma.
The talks -- involving rival groups, the Congolese government and MONUC -- were aimed at plotting out the military withdrawal in Kivu.
However, clashes ignited Monday between renegade ex-general Laurent Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) and one Mai-Mai ethnic militia force near the town of Ngungu, more than 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Goma.
CNPD and the Mai-Mai of the Congolese Patriotic Resistance (Pareco) mutually traded charges of violating a ceasefire that took effect January 24, the day after nine armed groups from Nord-Kivu signed "an act of engagement" for peace in the province, where 800,000 people are currently displaced by the conflict.
No further displacement of people was reported following the most recent violence, which counted zero deaths, according to MONUC.
"Minor incidents cannot overturn the peace process already initiated. We committed ourselves to restoring the peace and that's what will be done," CNDP spokesman Rene Abandi told AFP.
"The government did not attack or violate the ceasefire," he added, reducing the impact of these clashes.
According to a Mai-Mai spokesman, Didier Bitaki, it was inevitable these incidents would happen as rival groups are still "face to face" at the front lines.
"It was clear that this would happen, but that isn't a sign that hostilities will continue. When the troops withdraw, the ceasefire will be respected," he told AFP.
"We are very willing to restore peace and security in Kivu," he added, reminding Kinshasa of its "responsability" to urgently put into place a technical committee, as outlined by the peace process.
He called for rapid deployment of soldiers and MONUC observers to the buffer zones.
At MONUC headquarters in Goma, discussions continued Tuesday on the specifics of the technical commission and a military sub-committee, before preparing the withdrawal and demobilisation of fighters.
"There are a lot of small, very procedural, blocks," a UN source, who bemoaned the inability of delegates to take decisions without referring to back to their hierarchy, told AFP.
Numerous international observers doubt the good faith of the belligerent leaders and some doubt they have full control over their own troops.
The CNDP and Mai Mai -- which both say they have given orders for a complete end to all hostilities -- agreed that Monday's conflict might be put down to the failure of all troops to be aware of orders.
The UN previously said there was no excuse for this, several days after the ceasefire, but Congolese authorities have allocated 50,000 dollars (24,000 euros) to be divided among the 22 armed groups of the two Kivu provinces as part of a 10-day campaign to spread the word.
The eastern provinces have been ravaged by conflict since the end of the 1998-2003 war that raged across DR Congo.
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