Peace deal said to be within reach

The parties to the DRC conflict were on Monday continuing the lengthy process of negotiating a peace settlement in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, with a deal reported to be within sight, diplomatic sources told IRIN on Monday. The reported significant progress in the negotiations, now entering their third week, was achieved when the Congolese belligerents had met each other in direct talks, the sources said.

News agencies reported that DRC Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia had held six-hours of talks with representatives of the two factions of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) and the Mouvement de liberation congolais (MLC) on Friday. "We arrived at formulations on which we are all agreed," Reuters quoted Yerodia as saying after Friday's talks.

The parties involved "are now polishing up the details of an agreement", one diplomatic source close to the talks in Lusaka told IRIN, adding that it could be signed on Monday or Tuesday. "We have passed the major hurdles... it will be signed", the source said, adding that the peace deal constituted four documents: a ceasefire agreement proper, plus three
annexes detailing the modalities of its implementation. The source added that the delegates on all sides were "very authoritative" and could conclude a deal that would not need to be renegotiated by heads of state at a future regional summit.