August 21, 2001
The inter-Congolese dialogue will take place within the next six months, according to dialogue facilitator Ketumile Masire. "I think it should be sooner than six months," the South African news agency SAPA quoted Masire as saying in an interview on Sunday. "The Congolese people want the dialogue sooner than later." According to SAPA, Masire said he expected tough talking this week at a preparatory meeting to the dialogue being held in Gaborone among representatives of the DRC government, opposition political and armed groups and civil society, but was optimistic the meeting would go well. "The Congolese are tenacious negotiators. We have to decide the date, venue and rules of procedure," he was quoted as saying. While no representative will be present from the governments of Namibia and Zimbabwe, who have had troops in the DRC supporting the government, or the governments of Rwanda and Uganda, who have had troops in the DRC supporting rebel movements, they will be invited to the dialogue proper.
"The Congolese and ourselves decided this would be a technical meeting, not a political forum and they should be left out, but they will be invited to the dialogue," Masire said. Masire was also pleased that no party to the conflict - other than supporting countries - had been left out of the preparatory meeting, which he postponed from 16 July to enable his team to visit all areas of the vast country and ensure they were represented. "I was determined to bring everybody on board, no one must be able to point at us and say they did not have an opportunity to air their point of view," he said. "All the 60 million Congolese would like to be here. I can say it again and again, the people have been very keen on this process from the very beginning."
Opening the talks on Monday, current Botswanan President Festus Mogae told the 70 delegates that their "meeting here today gives us optimism about efforts towards peace in the DRC. Use this window of opportunity. The chances of reaching agreement have never been better," Reuters quoted Mogae as saying. Also in attendance was DRC President Joseph Kabila and Zambian President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia. Kabila did not speak publicly, but Chiluba, who mediated the 1999 Lusaka peace agreement, reminded the delegates that some 1.7 million people had died since the war began three years ago, according to Reuters. "For each day that passes without resolving the conflict, more precious lives will be lost. Nobody else can find a lasting solution to the conflict except you, the Congolese people. There will be no peace in the country until you decide genuinely and collectively that you want it," Reuters quoted Chiluba as saying.
Security Council members welcome dialogue meeting
The UN Security Council members on Monday welcomed the preparatory meeting for the inter-Congolese dialogue which is under way in Gaborone, Botswana, and encouraged the parties to make all efforts to ensure the success of the session. In a letter to the dialogue's facilitator, Ketumile Masire, Council members also stressed the need to ensure adequate representation of Congolese women in the preparatory process and voiced their backing for Masire's efforts to achieve that goal. "The members of the Council support your appeal and urge the Congolese parties, signatories of the Lusaka agreement, to increase representation of women at the meeting, as well as in the dialogue," the Council's letter signed by its current chairman, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Columbia said. The members stressed the importance of the role and contribution of women in the inter-Congolese dialogue and of ensuring that gender issues are addressed during the dialogue, consistent with a Council resolution 1325 (2000) which urges member states to increase the representation of women at all levels of decision-making when negotiating and implementing peace agreements.
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