Tshisekedi rejects talks outside Lusaka framework

Tshisekedi stated in South Africa this week that the inter-Congolese negotiations provided for in the Lusaka peace agreement were the only basis for resolving the Congolese question, and that he would not participate in political talks that were not held under the auspice of the Lusaka accord. Meanwhile, the second vice-president of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD) Moise Nyarugabo said on Monday that his movement was waiting for the facilitator of the inter-Congolese negotiations, former Botswana President Ketumile Masire, to set up “a timetable of consultations” with the Kinshasa regime in either Mauritius, Ethiopia, South Africa or Botswana. The foreign ministry of Botswana on Tuesday confirmed to IRIN that Masire, nominated as facilitator of the DRC political negotiations by the OAU in mid-December, had indeed accepted the position.