Global Policy Forum

By Mildred Mulenga

Regional leaders are in Lusaka for Monday's one-day summit to resuscitate the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Those who arrived Sunday were Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. Others were Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Salim Ahmed Salim, the secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity. Representatives of the Congolese rebel movements are also in Lusaka, while President Laurent Kabila was expected Monday morning.

Kagame told reporters on arrival that he was hopeful that the summit would not be a wasted effort. He urged other leaders to discuss the issues frankly in order to find a solution. Mbeki said leaders should not be frustrated but to continue working toward s peace in the Congo.

Mugabe said the meeting was very important as it came at a time when every body wanted to see the continuation of the process. He urged leaders involved in the conflict to stop the war without having to wait for UN orders to end it. "There is need to introduce fast track options within the framework of the Lusaka accord. Elders like ourselves should not wait for the United Nations to whip us before we move. We have to do it on our own," Mugabe said.

According to observers, the leaders are expected to prevail on Kabila to a llow the deployment of the armed UN peacekeepers to all the areas designated by the UN in Congo.

The present mandate of the UN Organisation Mission in Congo is expected to expire 31 August and it is unlikely that the UN may extend its mandate if Kabila continues to bar the blue helmets entering his territory. Without the involvement of the international community at the level of the UN, it is feared the peace process would have no chance of survival. This could also mean the withdrawal of financial support to the Joint Military Commission, set up after the Lusaka accord to look at the military aspects of the peace process.

"The peace process in the DRC is clearly off the track and needs urgent measures to resuscitate it. The process will completely die if Kabila still maintains at this summit that he does not want the UN forces in the Congo and disapproves former Botswana President Ketumile Masire as facilitator (of the inter-Congolese dialogue)," a diplomat source said.

The meeting is also expected to impress on Kabila to allow Masire take up his role as a facilitator of the dialogue between Kinshasa and other stakeholders, including both the armed and non-armed opposition.

According to a source close to the meeting, the leaders may propose electing one or two assistants to Masire acceptable to all parties should Kabila insist that he would not recognise Masire. Rwanda and Uganda, who back the rebels, have said that they would completely withdraw their forces from Congo once the inter-dialogue talks begin.

Belligerents in the Congo signed the peace agreement in Lusaka in July 1999 but the peace process has been violated several times by both government and the rebel forces.

In July the UN abandoned plans to send its first peacekeepers from Tunisia after Kabila refused to allow armed troops into the country. The UN has approved a force of 5,537 troops to monitor the Lusaka cease-fire agreement.