Masire asked to mediate

A Botswana government spokesman told IRIN on Wednesday that the country's former president, Ketumile Masire, had been asked by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to be the official mediator in the DRC crisis. "The rebel factions in Congo have been particularly anxious to get Dr Masire as the mediator, especially after it was clear they could not get the former South African president, Nelson Mandela," a foreign ministry spokesman said. "All sides agree that Dr Masire will make an excellent, impartial choice here, and he is currently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the OAU will formally put the proposition to him." Earlier in the week, representatives of the governments of Zimbabwe and Namibia, which sent forces to intervene against Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebels in Congo, told IRIN they too considered Masire a good choice for mediator. The spokesman on Wednesday pointed out that Botswana, like South Africa, had adopted a more neutral stance on the DRC than Zimbabwe and Namibia, which boded well for Masire's role as mediator.