Summit aimed at "convincing" Kabila

Sunday's summit on DRC, to be hosted by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as current OAU chairman, is aimed at convincing DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila work for the full implementation of the Lusaka agreement, a senior western diplomat told IRIN on Friday. "President Kabila is an important factor in the successful implementation of the Lusaka agreement, and he needs to be talked to by neutral actors. Issues
like the tension between Kabila and Ketumile Masire, the facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, and continued massive purchases of arms by the Congolese will come up at the Algiers summit," the diplomat said. The presidents of Zambia, South Africa, Nigeria, Mali and Mozambique are
invited to the summit, as well as the OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim and the facilitator, former Botswanan president Ketumile Masire.

The three rebel groups, along with their backers Rwanda and Uganda, have not been invited. "It is hard to figure out what this summit is all about, maybe they want to tell Kabila to respect the cease-fire," Jean- Pierre Bemba, leader of the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) told IRIN.