Text:
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/98nov2/27nov-kabila.html
Paris pressure on visiting Kabila
African leaders arrive in Paris for a summit, with Laurent Kabila under intense pressure to settle with the rebels.JON HENLEY in Paris
HE Congolese president, Laurent Kabila, arrived in Paris on Thursday for a summit of African leaders amid mounting fears that the four-month
conflict that has ravaged his country could develop into a catastrophic war engulfing the heart of the continent.Fresh from an audience with the Pope and meetings with European Union officials in Brussels, Mr Kabila is under heavy pressure to hold informal talks with the rebels during the three-day summit. The steadily escalating war has dragged in troops from up to a dozen central African states and caused thousands of civilian deaths.
Angola, Namibia, Chad, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic and Sudan have backed the Kinshasa government with troops, tanks and planes. Uganda and Rwanda are deploying their forces in support of the rebels, who have gained control of most of the eastern half of the country since launching their insurgency on August 2.
An alarming United Nations report this week says large numbers of fighters from the former Rwandan Hutu army and its militia supporters - many of whom were implicated in the 1994 genocide of 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda - have joined forces with Congolese troops.
"The situation in the Great Lakes region
is rapidly heading for a catastrophe,"
said Mahmoud Kassem, the report's
main author. "The danger of the
repetition of [a] tragedy comparable to
the Rwandan genocide of 1994, but on
a sub-regional stage, cannot be ruled
out."He said some 20 rebel groups, in
addition to those from Rwanda, were
operating in the region and had forged
links with other armed groups in
Angola, Burundi, Uganda and
elsewhere."This time the rebel groups are not only
aligned among themselves but they are
aligned with governments who are using
them for their own purposes," he said.In a report this week Amnesty International condemned horrific and widespread human rights abuses on all sides of the conflict. It described mass graves of more than 500 bodies outside Kinshasa and cited reports of a recent massacre of at least 250 Tutsis near Uvira in the east of the country.
Mr Kabila has been widely criticised for refusing to talk to the rebels. On his first visit to Europe since coming to power, he has continued to reject direct negotiations and deny allegations of human rights abuses.
Demanding that Uganda and Rwanda withdraw their forces, he insisted: "There are no rebels in my country. They are puppets being used by the invaders."
In a move welcomed by some of the country's opposition, Mr Kabila promised renewed political freedom this week, saying he would "liberalise" political activities on January 1 and allow the formation of political parties.
While no formal meetings between the warring parties are planned during the summit, French and EU officials are determined to get them round the negotiating table.
As well as Mr Kabila, the presidents of Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Namibia are in Paris, as are the Angolan defence minister and Chadian foreign minister.
Rwanda's president, Pasteur Bizimungu - who with Mr Kabila and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe will meet the French president, Jacques Chirac, tomorrow - has said he is willing to talk. -- The Guardian News Service, November 27, 1998.