/ 23 July 1999

DR CONGO REBELS IN TANZANIA FOR TALKS

REPRESENTATIVES of rebel groups fighting the government of Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila are in Tanzania for consultations on a ceasefire agreement. Representatives of DRC rebels started arriving in the country on Wednesday night at the invitation of the Tanzanian government, which is trying to to convince them to sign the ceasefire accord. The accord designed to end the 11-month-old war in DRC was signed on July 10 in Lusaka by six countries involved in the military conflict — Angola, DRC, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe. However, the main rebel groups — the Movement for the Liberation of Congo and the Congolese Rally for Democracy — did not sign the agreement following a leadership wrangle within the RCD.