/ 21 June 1999

DRC REBEL FACTION SETS GROUNDS

EMILE Ilunga, the breakaway leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy rebel movement, on Saturday spelled out a set of conditions for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The RCD’s three preconditions for ending a 10-month rebellion to topple President Laurent Kabila are that his troops stop targeting civilians, release Tutsi prisoners held in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi and “stop acts of genocide”, Ilunga said. “A ceasefire will come after these prerequisites are met,” Ilanga said, adding that the conditions were “a test of Kabila’s goodwill.”