Text:
http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19981217_feat1.html
Source App: [Kabila's Contempt for Rebels Threatens Talks - Netscape]
Kabila's Contempt for Rebels Threatens Talks
December 17, 1998
By A Staff Writer, The Eastafrican
Kinshasa - President Laurent Kabila's defiance of regional pressure to negotiate
with rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda has dashed hopes for a peace agreement
at a meeting which was scheduled for this week in Lusaka.
The regional summit was, however, according to news services quoting the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, postponed at the weekend.
Mr. Kabila's stand seemed to take Kenyan officials by surprise as it flew in the face of his request to President Moi to take a more active role in seeking a solution to the four- month conflict.
Privately, government officials in Nairobi said they hoped he would desist from publicly pronouncing his distaste for contact with the rebels.
Besides, said the officials, a key plank in talks between the Democratic
Republic of Congo leader - who arrived unannounced in Nairobi on Wednesday last
week and met for more than an hour Thursday morning with his Kenyan counterpart
- was the issue of talks with the rebels.
President Kabila was on his way home from a meeting with Zambian President Frederick Chiluba and President Moi.
Though Kabila refused to speak with reporters, his ambassador to Kenya, Mr. Kyungu Wa-Ku Mwanza, stated his government's stand at the airport when he said Kinshasa would not sign a cease-fire until Rwanda and Uganda set a date for the withdrawal of their troops from neighbouring Congo.
Both Kampala and Kigali have been backing the rebellion with troops and equipment, claiming that Kabila has allowed Rwandan and Ugandan rebels to establish bases in eastern Congo from which to attack their countries.
More ominously, both insist they will remain in Congo until measures are taken to secure their borders.
Regional leaders' fear that the war could escalate drawing in more countries. Already Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Sudan and Chad have been sucked into the melee on the side of the government. Uganda, and Rwanda are openly backing the rebels who comprise ethnic Congolese Tutsis, disaffected military officers and Congolese politicians and academics.
President Kabila insists they are a creation of Rwanda and Uganda, both of which helped him come to power after toppling longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997. Burundi's backing for the rebels is said to be more discreet.
Standing in the way of both international and regional efforts to reach a cease -fire is Kabila's refusal to meet with or even acknowledge the rebels.
The importance of the Lusaka talks, which Kenya was to attend, was that they came directly after a ceasefire apparently agreed upon at a Franco-African summit in Paris late last month. It was expected to consolidate the gains of the Paris talks, with the warring parties signing the agreement.
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