The two sides of Zaire’s civil war have agreed tentatively to talk for the first time, reports Chris McGreal
ZAIRE’S rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, says direct negotiations with the government could soon be possible following his meeting with President Nelson Mandela this week. But Kabila ruled out an early ceasefire in the five-month civil war in which his rebel forces have made sweeping gains in eastern Zaire.
“We are not close to a ceasefire agreement, we are close to negotiations,” he said.
After initially shrouding the two days of talks in secrecy, Mandela acknowledged the rebel leader’s first meeting with a head of state.
“General Laurent Kabila came down here to brief me about the situation. We are discussing very sensitive matters where confidentiality is absolutely necessary,” Mandela said.
Although South Africa is playing a crucial role in building confidence for talks, the United States is taking the lead in trying to bring the belligerents together. The US undersecretary of state for african affairs, George Moose, spent several hours with Kabila who also met the United Nations special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Mahomed Sahnoun.
Zairean government representatives remain in South Africa, although President Mobutu Sese Seko’s personal envoy has returned to Kinshasa and it is not expected the two sides with meet face to face for the time being.
On Wednesday, the Zairean army claimed its first significant victory, saying it had killed hundreds of rebels in repelling an attack on a strategic town by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire.
The military said it had ambushed rebels advancing on the town of Kindu, killing hundreds and driving the rest of the force back. Reuters quoted an unnamed senior defence official as saying the alliance was routed at the village of Muyengo.
“They were moving up the road calmly, apparently expecting no resistance. The Zairean army ambushed them at the junction between two roads leading north to Punia and west to Kindu,” the official said. “There were hundreds killed and the rest were forced to retreat towards Kalima in the early hours.”
The claim could not be independently verified. The Zairean government has been frank in admitting its losses to date but it has previously made false claims of victories.
If true, it is the first real setback for the rebels in their sweepingly successful campaign against the government’s ragged army backed by foreign mercenaries. The alliance has targeted Kindu as having one of only two airports in the east still in government hands.
In Belgium, the government said it is investigating reports of mass murders in rebel-held areas. Development and Co- operation Minister Reginald Moreels told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper he had received eyewitness reports of what he described as a new genocide underway in eastern Zaire where mass graves had been found.
Amnesty International and the United States have also expressed concern about human rights abuses by the rebels who are particularly hostile to Rwandan Hutu exiles still in Zaire.