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Kabila Finally Sends Delegation To Peace Talks
January 15, 1999
By Mildred Mulenga
Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - President Laurent Kabila of the Democratic Republic of
Congo has finally sent a 10-man delegation for the preliminary Foreign and
Defence ministers peace talks on DRC expected to open in Lusaka Friday.
Zambian government officials confirmed to PANA Friday that the DRC delegation, led by its foreign minister, arrived in Lusaka late Thursday.
Unconfirmed reports earlier said Kabila had no interest in sending a representation to the regional peace talks in Lusaka, intended to find a resolution to the civil war in the DRC. Zambian president, Frederick Chiluba earlier Thursday travelled to the DRC's southern city of Lubumbashi in an apparent move to persuade Kabila to attend the talks.
Chiluba, who is chief mediator in the five-month-old DRC conflict, had set 16 January for the regional summit in Lusaka, expected to endorse a cease-fire in the civil war between Kabila's government forces and their allies, and rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD).
But sources close to the talks and Chiluba himself have since indicated that Saturday's summit could be brought forward to early next week due to the amount of preliminary work that had to be cleared by the officials and foreign and defence ministers, who had been meeting since Wednesday.
The foreign and defence ministers of the participating countries, who are expected to start their meeting later Friday, have already met with Chiluba, according to official sources in Lusaka.
The sources said foreign and defence ministers from the DRC, Mozambique, South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Libya, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and host Zambia, were in Lusaka for the meeting.
There was no word early Friday about the presence of a delegation from RCD in Lusaka for the summit.
The participation of the RCD in the talks on the DRC has in the past been a major sticky point leading to the stalling of progress in the process.
Kabila has refused to sit on the same table with the rebels, but instead
preferred to negotiate with their main backers - Uganda and Rwanda, whom he has
accused of invading his country.
Kabila told Chiluba in Lubumbashi that he would "never, never talk to the rebels."
"They are puppets, if they come here they will be killed, the people don't want them here," Kabila was quoted as saying Thursday in Lubumbashi in the presence of Chiluba.
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