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Source App: [Congo rebels may attend Lusaka talks - Netscape]
Congo rebels may attend Lusaka talks
December 17, 1998
By Brighton Phiri
Lusaka - Congolese rebels may be allowed to attend the heads of state summit
scheduled for December 27 -28 in Lusaka.
President Frederick Chiluba, shortly before his departure to Burkina Faso for the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) heads of state and government summit yesterday, said he was confident that rebel leaders would this time be allowed to attend the summit to enhance effectiveness of the resolutions.
He said his silence over the conflict was partly because Zambia as chief facilitator did not want to be seen igniting more tension in Congo. President Chiluba refuted reports that the postponement of last week's heads of state summit was due to South Africa's refusal to attend.
"Due to some commitments among the invited presidents, I did find it fit to postpone the summit," President Chiluba said. "All the invited presidents have confirmed their coming."
President Chiluba said the two-day OAU conflict prevention, management and resolution meeting in Ouagadougou would focus on the current situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, conflicts in Guinea Bissau and stand off between Ethiopia and Eritrea. He is expected back on Saturday.
And President Omar Hassan el-Bashir of Sudan and his Democratic Republic of Congo counterpart, Laurent Kabila, have expressed hope that this week's OAU meeting on conflict resolution will come out with a peace plan on the disputes in the Great Lakes region.
Sudanese foreign ministry officials said this was part of discussions on bilateral and regional issues between both leaders during Kabila's stop-over on Monday in Khartoum on his way home from Egypt. The officials said Bashir and Kabila restated their countries' commitment to the OAU mechanism.
Sudan also repeated its call for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Congo, for a peaceful solution of the conflict "away from the influence of foreign powers".
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