December 7, 2001
A UN-sponsored meeting of rebels and government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) got underway behind closed doors, aimed at restarting a stalled peace process. UN Assistant Secretary General Ibrahima Fall told reporters no information would be released on the talks until they are completed on Friday.
"We will all tell everyone about everything when the talks are over, but not before," Fall said. The talks are being held to prepare for a higher-level meeting due early next week, due to be attended by senior rebel leaders and DRC President Joseph Kabila. Among those attending the talks are officials of the Rwandan-backed rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD),leaders of the Ugandan-backed rebel Movement for the Liberation of Congo, and a government delegation.
The government delegation is led by Kabila's cabinet chief, Theophile Mbemba. The talks are bringing together the government and the rebels who launched an insurgency in the DRC in August 1998 with the backing of Rwanda and Uganda. But they are not bringing in the foreign governments who support the rebels nor those, Zimbabwe and Angola, who support the Kabila government.
Among those in the Kinshasa government delegation were Presidency Minister Augustin Katumba Mwanke, the government-appointed commissioner to the UN peacekeeping mission, Vital Kamerhe, senior army officer Didier Etumba and two members of a panel charged with preparing full-fledged reconciliation talks next month, Samba Kaputo and Ngoy Mulunda.
Those talks are due to take place in Sun City, South Africa after discussions in Ethiopia failed in October. Subsequent UN-sponsored talks took place in New York last month leading to the Nigerian meetings. Malawi's President Bakili Muluzi said Wednesday the southern African regional grouping, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), is to hold an emergency meeting on the war in the DRC in mid-January.
It was unclear if this was separate from the inter-Congolese talks. Peace moves have gained momentum in the DRC since Kabila took power in January after his father Laurent Kabila was shot dead by a bodyguard. Most parties have withdrawn from the frontlines, paving the way for UN peacekeepers to deploy across the vast, mineral-rich nation.
Ambassador Raph Uwechue, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's special adviser on international conflict, said Wednesday Nigeria was happy to host the current talks. "Nigeria is happy to host it. Nigeria is happy to help in advancing the DRC peace process," he added.
RCD spokesman Kin Key Mulumba on Wednesday said the talks in Abuja would be concerned with the system of government for the country, not the sharing out of positions.
"We are not going to Abuja to share out power. Our priority is an understanding on the system of government," he said.
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