SUSAN NJANJI, Algiers | Sunday 1.00pm.
DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila began meeting with five African counterparts to “evaluate” the stumbling peace process in his war-torn country.
The summit is being held at the Club des Pins luxury resort outside Algiers at the invitation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, current president of the Organization of African Unity, amid concern that the conflict has destabilized the entire central African region.
The assembled leaders include Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and the Mozambican and Malian presidents, Joaquim Chissano and Alpha Oumar Konare. Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, who mediated the 1999 Lusaka peace accord, sent his minister for presidential affairs Eric Suwilangi.
Also attending are OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim and Botswanan former president Ketumile Masire, who is charged with establishing dialogue between the government and the political opposition and rebels. Notably absent from the meeting are representatives of any of the three rebel groups or their backers, Rwanda and Uganda, who collectively control nearly half of the vast former Zaire. Nor will Zimbabwe, Angola or Namibia, who have forces in the DRC backing Kabila, attend the summit. The Algerian news agency APS said would be an “opportunity to evaluate the implementation of the (1999) Lusaka accord in its different aspects.”
Specifically the summiteers will seek a consolidation of the latest ceasefire, which took effect April 14, so that the UN Security Council can give the green light to the deployment of a 5500-strong peacekeeping force authorized in February.
The force, comprising 500 military observers and 5000 supporting troops, will be tasked with monitoring the ceasefire and withdrawal of combattants.
More than a dozen summits have been held at venues throughout Africa, at the UN headquarters in New York, and in Paris seeking an end to the conflict in the DRC.
Observers hold out little hope for a breakthrough at the surprise Algiers summit — announced only last Tuesday — and note that it coincides with the early advent of dry weather in the DRC which would permit large-scale military operations to resume. — AFP