OWN CORRESPONDENT, Victoria Falls | Monday 11.00pm.
THE summit held to resolve the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo will run into a second day.
The summit, in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, started later than planned on Monday because of a round of preparatory meetings in which officials attempted to find a way to broker a cease-fire between the warring parties.
Attending are the leaders of Angola, Namibia, Zimnbabwe, Rwanda, Uganda and DRC President Laurent Kabila. Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe have supplied troops to support Kabila, while Uganda and Rwanda are accused of sending troops to support rebels attempting to topple him.
Representatives of the rebel movement arrived at Victoria Falls only to find no transport provided for them. Once at the summit they were refused entry to the heads of state meeting, as Kabila would not sit down with “people who are not leaders”.
The rebel delegation, led by led by Kabila’s ex-foreign minister Bizima Karaha and a senior member of the the rebel political wing, Arthur Zahidi Ngoma, and including Etienne Tshisekedi, a nephew of former opposition politician of the same name, reportedly hurried into the hotel through a side entrance and were holed up in their room. Four hours after arriving, they still had not been admitted to the conference.
Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, chairing the summit, was apparently shuttling from room to room to consult the various parties.
Meanwhile the various sides have stuck doggedly to their original positions. Kabila’s party repeated its assertion that the rebels are not in fact rebels, but “invaders”, a reference to the alleged presence of Ugandan and Rwandan troops in the DRC.
Rwanda has steadfastly refused to admit to having troops in the country. “Rwanda refuses absolutely to recognise the presence of its troops in the DRC,” an Angolan source at the summit said. Rwanda’s denial threatens to bring the summit to a stalemate, since Kabila insists no deal can be struck until Rwanda and Uganda pull their troops out.
The rebels meanwhile say that there can be no ceasefire until Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean troops supporting Kabila are withdrawn.
Rwandan foreign minister Anaste Gasana said late on Monday night that there had been no contact with the rebel delegation. “But we are going to organise some kind of conference with them,” he said.
An official attending the summit said that the possibility of a peace-keeping force was discussed, along the lines of the West African monitoring force Ecomog. The DRC force would be a combination of South African, Nigerian, Tunisian and Senegalese troops.