/ 27 June 2001

AFRICAN LEADERS MULL BORDER SECURITY

THE presidents of Zambia, Angola and Namibia are to hold a one-day mini-summit in Zambia on Tuesday to discuss security along their shared frontiers, said a foreign ministry representative. “The tripartite mechanism for political and security cooperation meeting involving Zambia, Angola and Namibia will today open at Lusaka’s Hotel Intercontinental,” said the representative. The tripartite commission was created in February to oversee security problems, concerns and suspicions along the common borders, when the heads of states met first in Angola. They agreed to set up the body mainly to address Luanda’s fears that Angolan Unita rebels could launch attacks from neighbouring states. Fighting from Angola’s 25-year civil war periodically spills into the neighbouring countries as government troops chase rebels from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita). – AFP