April 18, 2002
South African President Thabo Mbeki has flown to the resort of Sun City in an effort to rescue talks on the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo being held there. The move comes after a key rebel group, the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), rejected an agreement between the government and the second biggest rebel group.
Under that deal, unveiled on Wednesday, the leader of the Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), Jean-Pierre Bemba, would become prime minister in a government of national unity with President Joseph Kabila remaining head of state. The aim of the Sun City talks is to end a civil war that has divided DR Congo into at least three parts for the past four years.
The RCD says the deal struck by the government and the MLC violates the agreements which facilitated current peace talks. Uganda itself has rejected the Bemba-Kabila deal, its presidential spokesman Onapito Ekmoloit describing its as "an exercise in futility" in an interview for the French news agency AFP on Thursday.
The spokesman for President Yoweri Museveni said any agreement had to keep within the terms of the 1999 Lusaka peace accords. "We don't mind who comes as leader, provided he is agreed upon by all delegates to the dialogue," he added.
The RCD argues that the talks should focus on a proposal by Mr Mbeki to keep Mr Kabila in his post with reduced powers, give rebel groups control of the army, economy, interior, and hold new elections. But Mr Kabila's government rejects the South African leader's proposal.
Foreign involvement
The Sun City talks, which began in February, were originally due to end last week but have been extended until this Thursday.
The civil war began in 1998, with an attempt to topple the government of the late Laurent Kabila. Neighbouring countries stepped in, with Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe on the government's side and Uganda and Rwanda backing the rebels.
A ceasefire was agreed a year ago, but has repeatedly been broken - most recently in the eastern town of Moliro last month. On Wednesday, the United Nations expressed concerns about the risk of fighting between Rwandan-backed rebels and local militias in the east of the country.
The UN mission in DR Congo said that at least 15 RCD fighters have been killed in clashes between Uvira and Kindu.
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