Republique democratique du Congo. Rassemblement congolais pour la Democratie (RCD), Quartier general/Kisangani

Bureau du Président, Lusaka, 31 August 1999

Excellencies,

This is a great day, indeed! We have come from very far. It gives us a real relief: at last, we have signed the Lusaka Agreement, a regional oath, to bring peace, security, democratization to our part of the African continent.

It is a relief and an encouragement and a great hope: Southern Africa, through SADDC has completed the process of reversal of a bitter history in her relation to the eternal suffering of Congo.

In the epoch of Lumumba, as we know, rulers of the then Apartheid South Africa, Rhodesia, etc. were on the side of the forces suffocating Congo. Until recently, Apartheid South Africa continued to support all those forces which backed Mobutu against the Congolese people. We are happy that this region has changed and now takes the side of the Congolese people: for peace, security, democratization and hopefully, tomorrow, for pro-people development on the basis of the regional cooperation.

Africa has a duty to help Congo get democratized and become politically stable, to get Congo back to the Congolese people and not to individual looters who benefit from its instability. The Congo has been bleeding since 1482. By the 1960's the Lumumba epoch—lasting three months—only Presidents Kwame Nkrumah and Colonel Gamal Nasser tried to help the Congolese people side. We are joyful: Congo will no longer continue bleeding. You are all here to play the role Nkrumah and Nasser played then. It cannot continue bleeding when we have: Nyerere, Mandela, Masire, Dos Santos, Mugabe, Museveni, Chissano, Nujoma, Chiluba, Mkapa, Obasanjo, Mbeki, Buteflika… and others who are here. We know they won't continue the tradition of betraying the Congolese people and Lumumba's memory.

To do so, please do not look at me Ernest WAMBA DIA WAMBA, not look at Laurent Desiré Kabila, not look at Emile Ilunga, Bizima Karaha, etc. but, look at the people of Congo who have suffered so much and who need, want and have been demanding peace, democratization, reconciliation, security and genuine pro-people development. Supporting them, helping them, in good faith, is the way to build a long lasting peace and security in the region. As you know Congo is surrounded by 9 countries whose security, peace and stability closely depend on its stability.

We thank you, deeply and from the bottom of our hearts, for what you did to remove Mobutu. It soon became clear that you had not gone far enough, as, Mwalimu Nyerere, your delegate, to the Congolese people, in August 1997, sadly noticed: you had not worked hard enough for the Congolese people.

With this regional oath—the Lusaka Agreement we have just signed—after a very costly delay in terms of Congolese people's lives because instead of focusing on the Congolese people more importance was given to the number of weapons and faces of leaders—we have greater hope for Congo, the region and the continent. With such an oath, we have shown that, we Africans, are now politically mature.

Our sincere thanks and respectful Congratulations to all those who labored so hard to get us this far: more particularly His Excellency President Frederick Chiluba, the able captain of the ship of peace, security and democracy and the people of Zambia who took the challenge of hosting the never ending peace negotiations meeting.

Let our political will for, and good faith in, the success of the Agreement prevail! God bless all of us!!

Thank you.

Prof. Ernest WAMBA DIA WAMBA
President of the RCD
President of the Political Council