04-24-06,10:36am

BUJUMBURA, 21 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - Foreign ministers from four of Africa's Great Lakes countries adopted on Friday a 'working document' that could result in sanctions being imposed on leaders of illegal armed groups that continue to destabilise peace and security in the region.

The ministers from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda issued a communiqué at the end of their two-day meeting in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, saying they would lobby the African Union and the United Nations to impose sanctions on such groups.

The sanctions would include travel restrictions on the leaders of these groups and their supporters, and denial of access to the media, fundraising, political discussion and negotiation. Each country would also 'freeze assets of armed groups, their leaders and supporters' and pursue their possible listing internationally as terrorist groups.

They said their governments were committed to the disarmament of the groups, including Burundi's Forces nationales de liberation (FNL), Rwanda's Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and several Congolese militias.

The meeting was held under the 'Tripartite Plus Joint Commission', which was set up in 2004 with a mandate to boost peace and security in the Great Lakes region. The communiqué was read out by Antoinette Batumubwira, Burundi's foreign minister.

The ministers commended the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, and the UN Mission in Burundi (ONUB) for their contribution in promoting security in the region. They said they would boost cooperation among the four governments to 'neutralise' the illegal armed groups in the region.

Batumubwira said the commission would continue setting up joint border verification mechanisms to curb the movement of members of these armed groups from one country to another. They also welcomed an offer by ONUB 'to share its experience of partnership between the host government, the international community and the region, in matters of transitional politics and peace keeping.'

The DRC foreign minister, Ramazani Baya, said: 'I am satisfied with the commitment to track down armed groups wherever they are on the national level and outside my country.' However he said his country was against a request by Uganda to be allowed to have its troops in Congolese territory to track down Ugandan rebels operating from eastern Congo.

'There are Ugandan rebels on Congolese territory and Congolese rebels on the Ugandan territory,' Baya said. He said LRA elements had been moving to and from Sudan, Uganda and the DRC's Gahumba Park in DRC. Nevertheless, he praised the recent arrest, by Uganda, of a Congolese rebel leader who is scheduled to be handed over to Congolese authorities. 'The cooperation of Uganda-DRC-MONUC will help dismantle elements of Ugandan militias,' he added.

Uganda's deputy defence minister, Ruth Nankabirwa, said there had been several positive changes in the region since the creation of the joint commission. She said bilateral relations; the joint commission and its verification mechanisms would 'help to eliminate whatever problems there are'.

Batumubwira said Burundi still considers the FNL a negative force because it had not changed its stand since it was declared a terrorist group by heads of state at a summit held in Kampala, Uganda. The FNL, whose stronghold in the province of Bujumbura Rural, is Burundi's remaining active rebel movement. Other groups have joined the government and transformed themselves into political parties.

She said Burundi was collaborating with the DRC, which continues to arrest FNL combatants found in Congolese territory. The Congolese government on Wednesday handed over to Burundi 51 FNL combatants it had arrested.

Sindi Courville of the United States, who chaired the two-day meeting, said: 'The four countries must be congratulated for the enormous progress they have made, they have demonstrated their political will to move forward,' she said. 'From the perspective of the US, I think the Joint Tripartite Plus Commission has demonstrated its ability not only for the subregion but also Africa and globally, what nations can do together.'