Facilitator completes "preliminary" consultations

Former Botswanan President Ketumile Masire, facilitator of the
inter-Congolese negotiations called for in the Lusaka ceasefire agreement, said the parties to the talks were at the end of "a preliminary phase of consultations", according to UN associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe. She said Masire told UN Security Council members, in a private meeting on Wednesday, that he was now drawing up a work plan for the next phase, which was a dialogue among all the Congolese parties. Masire also said he
welcomed the Council's planned trip to the region. On Saturday, DRC Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia told journalists that the government rejected a plan proposed by Masire for the organisation of the talks.