Kinshasa briefs SADC allies on Kabila trip

DRC Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo, who accompanied President Joseph Kabila on his recent visit to the US and Europe, on Wednesday briefed President Robert Mugabe in the Zimbabwean capital Harare on recent events in the Congo and Kabila’s first overseas trip as head of state. Zimbabwe is one of Kabila’s main allies in the continuing DRC war.

Kongolo said the DRC leader’s trip to France, the US, the United Nations and Belgium was a “tremendous success”, Zimbabwean radio reported. He also expressed the hope that the leaders of all the countries involved in the conflict would soon meet to review the Lusaka peace process. US Secretary of State Colin Powell was “committed and ready to assist” the people of the DRC, he added.

Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu on Tuesday met Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos - another of the DRC’s military allies - in the Angolan capital, Luanda, to inform him of recent developments. Okitundu said Kabila’s first trip as head of state was “very worthwhile” and that Kinshasa was hoping the new US administration would become involved in the reinvigorated DRC peace process, Angolan television reported.

“We have had difficult relations with the former [Clinton] administration. We hope that the new administration will adopt significant changes in the way in which the peace issue is addressed,” Okitundu said on Angolan TV. “The former administration favoured Rwanda [and] Uganda ... We hope this new administration will balance the equation to take into account the DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”