Rival rebel leaders discuss UN ceasefire proposal

Leaders of rival rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) began discussing on Monday a ceasefire proposal tabled by the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUC. The leaders - Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Mouvement pour la Liberation du Congo, Roger Lumbala of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-National (RCD-N), and Mbusa Nyamwisi of the RCD-Kisangani-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K/ML) - are meeting in the northern town of Gbadolite, Equateur Province, in the presence of the ambassadors of countries which are permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as those of Belgium and South Africa. The rival factions signed an agreement in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria, on 17 December, for the formation all-inclusive government in the DRC but, three days later, resumed fighting in the east and northeast of the country. The MONUC director of information, Patricia Tome, told IRIN that the ceasefire proposal contained a provision for the three rebel movements return to their former positions as recognised by the Lusaka accords of 1998. After examining the proposal, Bemba, Lumbala and Nyamwisi officially undertook to desist from further hostilities. A ceasefire monitoring commission comprising the three rebel groups, diplomats and representatives of the international community is to be set up after this meeting. The Gbadolite meeting, initiated by Bemba, is to be followed by another, to be convened by DRC President Joseph Kabila on 5 January, to discuss implementation of the Pretoria accord. Kabila's spokesman, Mulegwa Zihindula, told IRIN that Kabila had proposed that the January meeting should discuss military matters and political issues. Tome said that fighting near Beni between the RCD-K-ML and the MLC, supported by RCD-N, had stopped since Saturday. She said that in Lukaya, 55 km northwest of Beni, a large number of people have been displaced. Some had fled the fighting, while others had tried to return to their homes in the direction of Mambasa, a locality hotly contested by the belligerents.