BUCHIZYA MSETEKA, Johannesburg | Tuesday 8.00pm
FOREIGN Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Zuma, flew to the rebel-held city of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday to check on the crumbling peace process in that country, her spokesman said.
Vincent Hlongwane said that Zuma had flown to Congo’s third largest city to determine who leads the main rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), so they can sign a peace deal.
”Her [Zuma’s] mission involves the verification of who controls the rebel group there,” Hlongwane said. The RCD is at odds over who should sign a peace accord — agreed in Lusaka on July 10 — because of a leadership wrangle between new leader Emile Ilunga and ousted leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba.
Hlongwane said Zuma will be joined in Kisangani by Zambian Presidential Affairs Minister Eric Silwamba, who has been shuttling between Congolese rebel factions to try to get them to sign the accord.
The RCD leadership struggle degenerated into open battle over the weekend when Ugandan troops backing Wamba and Rwandan-backed RCD rebels shot at each other. One woman and several Ugandan soldiers were killed and wounded in rifle, machine-gun and artillery exchanges.
Zambian government officials said that Zambian President Frederick Chiluba was consulting his officials and colleagues in the region on whether it was safe enough for a verification mission to visit Kisangani. The Kisangani mission follows ”fruitful talks” on Sunday between President Thabo Mbeki and the presidents of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. — Reuters
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