OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Kinshasa and Lusaka | Sunday 10.30pm.
AUTHORITIES in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confiscated the passport of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who was due to fly to Brussels at the weekend. DRC immigration officials gave no explanation for the confiscation.
During his trip, Tshisekedi was to have addressed the European Parliament.
Tshisekedi, who has not recognised the legitimacy of the current regime, was a long-standing foe of President Laurent Kabila’s predecessor, the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
The DRC government in June lifted an internal expulsion order against Tshisekedi, who was arrested in Kinshasa in February and sent to his home village in the central province of Eastern Kasai where he was held under house arrest.
Forces loyal to President Laurent Kabila meanwhile claim to have taken the town of Buta, 1500km north-east of the capital. A statement by the DRC defence ministry said late on Saturday that the DRC army had “annihilated troops of the Ugandan and Rwandan invaders” in Buta.
Buta, in Oriental province, was taken in early October by rebels who have held the provincial capital Kisangani, 250km to the south, since August.
There has been no independent confirmation that the town has, in fact, changed hands.
Both the government and rebels are positioning themselves for what may be the fiercest battle of the war so far — control of the strategic diamond town of Mabuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai province. Apart from Mabuji-Mayi’s rich mines, the town is the last stop on the way to Kabila’s southern stronghold, Lubumbashi.
The rebels said on Saturday they were undaunted by Zimbabwean threats of military aggression. Arthur Zahidi Ngoma, vice-chairman of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy, said: “For us, nothing has changed. Zimbabwean soldiers have long been at war in the east and they have not bothered us so far. Militarily, the Zimbabweans are a joke. But [Zimbabwean President Robert] Mugabe has personal interests in the mines in Kasai, and he is using his soldiers to defend them.”
South Africa’s Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo and Defence Minister Joe Modise will attend Monday’s Southern African Development Community talks in Lusaka, Zambia, “in an effort to avert further escalation of the crisis in the DRC,” a government statement said.
Delegates were arriving in Lusaka on Sunday for the talks, which will bring together foreign and defence ministers from South Africa, Gabon, Tanzania and Mozambique, seen as neutral, and Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia and the DRC. Representatives are also expected from the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations.
President Nelson Mandela last week embarked on a series of meetings with the key players in the conflict. The president held private talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwandan strongman Paul Kagame. Mandela is also due to sit down with representatives of the rebels, and next Wednesday he is set to meet Namibian President Sam Nujoma in Windhoek — AFP