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Slow Progress On DRC Truce Rebels Hold Out For Direct
Talks
January 25, 1999
By Christof Maletsky
Windhoek - Nearly a week after five countries involved in the DRC war agreed a
draft cease-fire deal, progress towards a cessation of hostilities has virtually
ground to a halt.
Rebels fighting to oust President Laurent Kabila have reiterated that only direct talks with the beleaguered leader will bring about peace and democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Speaking to The Namibian from Johannesburg at the end of last week, Congolese Rally for Democracy spokesperson Thomas Nziratimana said: "There is only one way - direct talks with Mr. Kabila." But he added that they were inclined towards the cease-fire agreement brokered by five foreign powers fighting in the DRC, "for the good of the democratisation process of our country".
"We would go to any extent to achieve this (democracy)," Nziratimana said without elaborating on their options. Kabila's government said on Friday that it would only agree to a truce on condition that foreign troops backing the rebels immediately withdraw.
"The Congolese people and government have no problem with signing a cease-fire but it must be followed immediately by the withdrawal of uninvited troops from our territory," DRC Foreign Minister Jean-Charles Okoto said at the end of a two -day visit to Zimbabwe. "If President Mugabe and the majority of our allies agreed we will align ourselves behind that line," Okoto told journalists, referring to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
But he added his country would make an official stand on the Windhoek agreement after he briefed Kabila on his talks with Mugabe and Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge. Last week Namibian Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab said that he expected the cease-fire to be formally signed in Lusaka within a fortnight.
The rebels have questioned the cease-fire commitment saying that without broader political negotiations with Kabila the country could remain partitioned. Rwanda and Uganda, the rebels' main allies, agreed last Monday in Windhoek, to sign a cease-fire accord at a later date with Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia, which are fighting in support of the Kabila=
government.
President Sam Nujoma said after the one-day summit that the cease-fire would be signed by all parties, including the rebels, in Lusaka. But Bizima Karaha, a rebel leader, said the rebels would not sign the accord before entering into direct talks with Kabila.
"Only direct negotiations will do," Karaha said. "The agreement on a ceasefire is good for the foreign countries, and it may be good for the people of Congo, if it brings us a step closer to direct negotiations."
* DRC rebels received a major boost on Friday when the United Nations announced it will begin caring for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by war in the eastern part of the country controlled by the RCD, Associated Press reported.
Charles Petrle, a senior UN humanitarian advisor, said after meeting with rebel leaders in Goma, that both the government and rebel authorities had been informed of UN impartiality in the six-month civil war and that aid will soon start flowing into rebel-controlled DRC. "We are not asking for anybody's permission.
This is the emergency humanitarian assistance, and we understand we have co -operation from both sides in achieving our objectives," he said.
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