CRCA logo
📄 APA-0021 Implemented

Global and All-Inclusive Agreement on the Transition in the DRC (Sun City / Pretoria Agreement)

Also known as: Global and All-Inclusive Agreement

Country
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Region
Central Africa
Date signed
17 December 2002
Type
Power Sharing
Mediator(s)
South Africa (President Mbeki), UN Special Envoy Moustapha Niasse, Sir Ketumile Masire (ICD facilitator)

The power-sharing settlement of the Second Congo War, creating the '1+4' transitional presidency, integrating belligerent forces, and steering the DRC to its 2006 elections — formal reunification of the state after Africa's deadliest conflict.

Conflict Background

Bilateral withdrawal deals with Rwanda (Pretoria) and Uganda (Luanda) in 2002 stripped the rebellions of their sponsors' cover, enabling the Inter-Congolese Dialogue to conclude with an all-inclusive transitional formula.

Negotiation Context

The '1+4' design — President Kabila plus four vice-presidents from the main components — traded coherence for inclusiveness, buying peace at the price of a famously unwieldy transitional state.

Parties

  • Government of the DRC
  • RCD-Goma
  • MLC
  • RCD-ML
  • RCD-N
  • Mai-Mai
  • Political opposition and civil society

Mediators & Guarantors

Mediators
  • · South Africa (President Mbeki)
  • · UN Special Envoy Moustapha Niasse
  • · Sir Ketumile Masire (ICD facilitator)
Guarantors
  • · United Nations (MONUC)
  • · African Union
  • · International Committee in Support of the Transition (CIAT)

Key Provisions

Transitional government: President plus four Vice-Presidents (government, RCD, MLC, opposition)
Integration of belligerent forces through 'brassage' into the FARDC
Transitional constitution, followed by referendum and elections
Truth commission and citizenship legislation
CIAT international oversight of the transition

Implementation

Implemented at national level; its deferred eastern files (armed groups, army reform, citizenship, land) constitute the direct lineage of the M23 crisis and the 2025 Washington/Doha processes.

Timeline

  1. 2002-12-17
    Signed in Pretoria; endorsed at Sun City (Apr 2003)
  2. 2003-07
    Transitional government installed
  3. 2005-12
    Constitution approved by referendum
  4. 2006-07/10
    First multiparty elections in four decades; Kabila elected
  5. 2006–2009
    Residual eastern rebellions (Nkunda/CNDP) fought and negotiated outside the framework

Challenges

  • Brassage produced an unintegrated, patronage-riddled army whose weakness fuels eastern conflict to this day
  • Transitional corruption and parallel chains of command
  • Eastern security dilemma (FDLR, land, citizenship) deferred rather than resolved

Outcomes

  • Reunified the state, withdrew foreign armies, and delivered landmark elections
  • Ended, at national scale, a war whose excess mortality is counted in millions
  • Proof that maximal inclusiveness can terminate a multi-party war — with known long-term costs

Lessons

  • All-inclusive formulas end wars but embed their patronage logics in the state
  • Army integration is the transition's centre of gravity, not an annex
  • Bilateral deals with external sponsors can unlock internal settlements

Related CRCA Resources

References

  • Global and All-Inclusive Agreement on the Transition in the DRC (2002).
  • Stearns, J. (2011). Dancing in the Glory of Monsters.