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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990310_feat2.html
Congo Leaders Prepare For Peace
March 10, 1999
By Stephen Laufer
Johannesburg - Opposition leaders from Democratic Republic of Congo are meeting
near Pretoria in an effort to narrow their differences ahead of an inclusive
political settlement.
Participants include senior representatives of the rebel groups fighting President Laurent Kabila's forces, former ministers and a former reserve bank governor under Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, and emissaries of internal opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who has been banned from travelling.
Also present is the Archbishop of Kisangani, Monsignor Monsengwa, who met President Nelson Mandela last week and is emerging as an increasingly important mediator in Congolese peace efforts. Plans adopted by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Congo call for an inclusive political settlement once the fighting has stopped.
The organiser of the Pretoria meeting, Vasu Gounden, said yesterday the talks were aimed at defining a common basis so that they were ready to participate in the internal Congolese process once a cease-fire was in place. The aim was to narrow the gap between the parties, as it was unlikely that the Pretoria meeting would achieve consensus on all issues.
Further meetings were planned for Paris and Geneva. Gounden said Mobutu's former prime minister, Leon Kengo wa Dondo, foreign minister Gerard Kamanda, and former reserve bank governor Pierre Pay-Pay were among the participants in SA.
Alexis Thambwe was representing rebel leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba. Gounden is the director of the African centre for the constructive resolution of disputes (Accord), a nongovernmental organisation involved conflict resolution on the continent.
The SA government had co-operated with Accord by granting visas to the participants, but had otherwise "respected our independence in convening this meeting".