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http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19990111_feat3.html
We'll ensure DRC talks move smoothly, says FTJ
January 11, 1999
By Dickson Jere
Lusaka - We are doing everything possible to ensure that the forthcoming Lusaka
peace talks scheduled for next week move smoothly, President Frederick Chiluba
has said.
Speaking on arrival from a one-day working visit in Zimbabwe at Lusaka International Airport yesterday, the president said everybody who was involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo either directly or indirectly would be allowed to participate in the Lusaka peace talks.
He said he started the consultations last week when he met Rwandan President Pascar Bizimungu in Kigali. He had gone to Zimbabwe to consult President Robert Mugabe.
"The idea is to consult everybody as chairman," President Chiluba said.
The ministers and other senior officials would be meeting in Lusaka on Friday this week to draw up the agenda and other modalities for the Presidents' summit which is scheduled for either January 16 or 17, 1999.
President Chiluba said invitations for the summit would be sent today to all participating countries. He said almost all the countries in the region were interested in participating in the Congo peace talks. He said countries which were likely to attend the Lusaka talks were Angola, Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Chad, Tanzania, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Burundi.
When asked whether the foreign troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be withdrawn, President Chiluba said the meeting would have to discuss the same modalities including the exchange of war prisoners once the ceasefire agreement is reached.
President Chiluba was accompanied by presidential affairs minister Eric Silwamba and his press assistant Richard Sakala.
Others were minister without portfolio Michael Sata, defence minister Chitalu Sampa, foreign affairs deputy minister Valentine Kayope, Lusaka Province deputy minister Sonny Mulenga and defence chiefs.
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