COMESA summit ends with sharp differences over DRC conflict

A summit by 12 heads of states from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) ended in Nairobi on Tuesday with sharp differences over the DRC. President Laurent-Desire Kabila left the summit early, in a move described by observers as "very hurried", reportedly to respond to Burundi's "aggression". The proceedings were broadcast by Kenyan television. DRC Foreign Minister Yerodia Abdoulaye Ndombasi told the summit there was "no way COMESA can achieve regional integration if it and African nations continue to turn a blind eye to foreign invasion, such as the one in DRC". His remarks drew a sharp reaction from Uganda's Yoweri Museveni who said the summit was the wrong forum to discuss the issue and called on Kinshasa to get to the root causes of the war. Meanwhile, the heads of state issued a statement on Tuesday in which they agreed among other things to commence a "countdown" to the COMESA Free Trade Area (FTA) by 31 October 2000. However, the summit noted that the elimination of intra-COMESA tariffs could worsen uneven levels of development between member states and directed the secretariat to explore appropriate compensatory mechanisms.