Mugabe hosts DRC summit

President Laurent-Desire Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joined President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and the Angolan ambassador in Zimbabwe for talks on Sunday with President Robert Mugabe on withdrawing their intervention forces from Congo.

They told a news conference after the day-long meeting that a withdrawal was dependent on implementation of last year’s Lusaka Agreement and the pullout of Ugandan and Rwandan forces from the northern city of Kisangani.

Kabila said the three countries also discussed a new facilitator for political dialogue in Congo. But he did not indicate who would replace the present facilitator, former President Ketumile Masire of Botswana, who he accused of “acting like a colonial governor”.

“This is a meeting we summoned for us to look at the stages that have been covered in the implementation of the Lusaka agreement,” Mugabe said. On the withdrawal from Kisangani of Rwandan and Ugandan forces which have backed a rebellion against Kabila, he added: “We would like to hear how the UN Security Council, through the Secretary-General of the United Nations, would want to supervise the withdrawal.”

Mugabe lashed out at critics in Zimbabwe who have accused him of wasting millions of dollars in the military intervention to support Kabila, while the country faces growing shortages of fuel, medicine and foreign currency. “They should keep their dirty mouths shut,” he said. “The allies are prepared to withdraw from Congo as soon as conditions permit and when the elected government of DRC is not threatened by invaders.”

Zimbabwe has some 11,000 troops in the DRC in an initiative Mugabe described as a “noble international act” to defend the sovereignty of Congo, a fellow Southern African Development Community (SADC) member.