The Gbadolite Agreement was signed on 31 December2002 by three of the warring factions in the Second Congo War: the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), the Rally for Congolese Democracy-National (RCD-N) and the Rally for Congolese Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML). All three of these rebel groups are backed by the government of Uganda.
The agreement obliged the signing parties to immediately stop all fighting in the Isiro-Bafwasende-Beni-Watsa quadrangle and to accept United Nations military observers in the area. The observers were to deploy to the are immediately after the signing of the agreement. It also contained guarantees of the freedom of movement of the civilian population and humanitarian organizations from one area to another.
As with previous treaties, the Gbadolite Agreement had a limited effect and did not lead to an end in the conflict.
The last-mentioned cease-fire was amended twice: on 16 Septem- ber 1991 in Gbadolite at an OAU summit and on 12 July 1992 in Arusha.
Agreement was reached to start peace negotiations (in Arusha), not only to restore the Nsele cease-fire, but also to discuss further democratization, integration of the RPF in government, and military reforms.
After signing of the agreements, a number of interlinked factors would contribute to non-implementation of the Arusha accords by 6 April, 1994: the delayed arrival of UN troops, internal disputes with- in different parties and basic unwillingness by the President and his regime to go along with the major changes.
When we went to Gbadolite on June 22nd, President Mobutu assured us that the MPI.A's document would not be discussed, that we would discuss only peaceful proposals that called for national reconciliation, a cease-fire, and a commission to monitor a cease-fire.
At Gbadolite, there was only a proclamation of a cease-fire, and we were surprised to see that many people said the cease-fire was guaranteed, because we were being attacked by the Cubans and the MPILA during this time.
The Soviets were not involved in that agreement, and their military involvement in Angola has continued.
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