RCD rebel group withdraws from Geneva talks

Representatives from the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma (RCD-Goma), withdrew on Thursday from talks being held in Geneva, accusing President Joseph Kabila's government of failing to observe the cease-fire agreed in 1999 under the Lusaka peace accord. Four days into the talks, RCD representatives chose to remain silent, participating merely as observers, while debate concerning future national institutions, the army, and a transitional period ahead of elections continued among the other participants. The UN-sponsored Geneva talks, held between 4 and 7 February, brought together ministers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), representatives from the Ugandan-backed Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) and from the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma. The informal talks were held ahead of the resumption of the Inter-Congolese dialogue negotiations, due to open in Sun City, South Africa, on 25 February. "The objective of the Geneva meeting was to reach a consensus between the three sides to the conflict. This was not reached; the Geneva meeting was a total failure," AFP quoted the RCD-Goma’s secretary-general, Azarias Ruberwa, as saying afterwards. Ruberwa blamed the government for the impasse, while the head of the DRC government delegation, Augustin Katumba Mwanke, accused the RCD-Goma of sabotaging the talks, AFP reported. Referring to the peace talks held in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1999, which resulted in the Lusaka peace accord and a cease-fire, Ruberwa said: "Our movement wanted Kinshasa to order its allies to cease hostilities... to stop supporting armed groups and leave positions occupied since Lusaka. Kinshasa did not respond to these demands. We cannot talk about transition and elections when fighting is still going on, if there is no respect for the cease-fire." Radio France Internationale quoted the RCD-Goma secretary for external relations, Joseph Mudumbi, as stating that his party objected specifically to the "war waged by the Mayi-Mayi, who are financed and backed by the government". Meanwhile, Ibrahima Fall, the United Nations assistant secretary-general, who moderated the talks, told reporters that a separate meeting was to be held before the Sun City talks between President Joseph Kabila, Jean-Pierre Bemba of the MLC and Mbusa Nyamwisi of the RCD-Goma, Reuters reported. "The intention [in Geneva] was not to reach any accords, but to bring the sides closer together," Reuters quoted Fall as telling a news conference. "This process is going to be further strengthened by the meeting of the three leaders." No date had been decided on yet, he confirmed. The Geneva talks were the third in a series of informal talks held to bring the three sides closer together before the resumption of the Inter-Congolese dialogue on 25 February. Fall said the meeting in Geneva had built on work already done during previous sessions in New York and Abuja, Nigeria, to improve the atmosphere for success in the Congolese talks, AFP reported.