Global Policy Forum

By Henri E. Cauvin

Parties warring in Congo, meeting for the first time since the assassination last month of the president, Laurent Kabila, moved closer to peace today with unexpected agreements on a handful of crucial issues.

Breaking with his late father, Congo's new president, Joseph Kabila, agreed today to open political talks with the rebels challenging his government. And he accepted the former president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire, as the chief facilitator.

The elder Kabila, who came to power in 1997 as the leader of an uprising that deposed the longtime dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, had blocked efforts to begin political talks with the rebels and had vociferously opposed Mr. Masire.

But today President Kabila assured all parties: "We have stretched our hand, we have extended our hand in a gesture of peace. We expect the same from our aggressors and our brothers for the benefit of the people of the Congo." His speech was interrupted by applause.

In exchange for the government's willingness to begin political talks, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, a group challenging President Kabila, agreed to endorse a detailed withdrawal plan that had been signed by the other parties in December.

The summit meeting, which began here this morning and ended late tonight, was presented as an opportunity to capitalize on the international good will the new president has cultivated since the death of his father, who was seen increasingly as the main obstacle to ending the two- and-a-half-year war.

A peace accord completed here almost 19 months ago has never taken hold, with battles raging virtually unabated as the Congolese and their allies, Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, confront the rebels and their backers, Rwanda and Uganda.

Zambia's president, Frederick Chiluba, who has served as the chief mediator, said today that progress toward peace was urgent. "Already, hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and already, the credibility of the region's leaders has faded in the eyes of the world," he said. "I fear that if we do not honor our commitments or implement the documents we sign, the international community will treat the peace process with cynicism and ridicule."

A United Nations Security Council meeting to review the peace effort is planned Wednesday and Thursday.

The concessions announced tonight allowed the participants to claim at least a sliver of progress on a day when expectations had plummeted because of a boycott by Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame. Rwanda is entangled in the war mainly because remnants of the Hutu militias responsible for the mass killings of Tutsi in 1994 have regrouped in eastern Congo, using the area as a staging ground for continued advances into Rwanda and signing up soldiers who support the Congo government.

Angered by what it said was Zambia's lackluster effort to control and disarm Congo-backed soldiers who fled here after being routed by Rwandan-backed forces, President Kagame accused Zambia of siding with Congo forces and said Zambia could no longer serve as a neutral site for talks.

So today, as the presidents of Congo, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and senior ministers from Angola and Uganda took their seats on the dais, the chair behind the Rwanda placard sat empty.

While many were angered by Rwanda's absence, which President Chiluba made a point of noting as he began his speech, diplomats following the process and officials involved in it said the effect would be limited if Rwanda at least remained engaged in the process.

Rwanda's foreign minister, André Bumaya, said in an interview with the BBC in Kigali that Rwanda would not abandon efforts to end the war. "We are committed to the peace process," he said. If the meeting were not in Zambia, he added, "we would like to participate, to make known our views and to contribute to make the whole process move forward."