Rebels hail Kabale agreement

A senior official of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), Bizima Karaha, has described the Kabale agreement to form a united rebel front against President Laurent-Desire Kabila as "extremely important". "For the first time all the liberation movements in the Congo have decided to form a common front with common objectives," he told Rwandan radio on Tuesday. "It will also help the non-armed opposition to
join us and ... we shall make a very big, positive impact in the Congo." Karaha added that a "common vision" had developed among the three rebel groups - the RCD, the RCD-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) and the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC). "The remaining issue is to forge the whole thing in one big structure," he said.

RCD-ML leader Ernest Wamba dia Wamba said the three groups had joined ranks in a peace process which would bring people together. "Hopefully, we think that through the national dialogue...we will be in a position to find the principle for legitimacy and we will be able to set up a new political order," he told Rwandan radio. "In that sense, the coming millennium would find our country in political stability."