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Leaders meet on DRC

    JOHANNESBURG

    As the body of president Laurent-Desire Kabila was flown home to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from Harare at the weekend, the leaders of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola met in Luanda to discuss their Congo policy.

    In a communiqué issued at the end of the summit and read out by Angolan Foreign Minister Joao Bernardo de Miranda, Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Sam Nujoma of Namibia and Jose Eduardo dos Santos reiterated their solidarity with the new DRC leader, Joseph Kabila, and his government.

    The three men said they would keep their respective military forces in the country "until a lasting and stable solution" to the DRC conflict was reached. They also called on the United Nations to adopt "urgent measures" to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions on the Congo. They also called for broader talks to end the war.

    South African diplomatic sources told IRIN on Monday that a meeting of the 14-member South African Development Community (SADC) to discuss the latest development in the DRC could be convened some time this week. Diplomats said that a meeting could possibly take place before Thursday as some of leaders in the region were due to attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland later this week.

    Reuters quoted an Angolan official as saying that although the allies agreed to continue supporting the DRC government, they needed to define what kind of assistance the authorities in the Congo needed and how they could help. The Namibian Press Association (NAMPA) reported at the weekend that DRC minister of state, Victor Mpoyo, told Nujoma in a briefing that the military situation "would need new planning".

    Media reports on Monday said that Angolan troop reinforcements had arrived in the main DRC cities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. Meanwhile, Angolan officials at the weekend denied any involvement in Kabila's death. "We strongly deny any deliberate action or intention to kill the Congolese president," Jao Pedro a spokesman from the Angolan foreign ministry was quoted as saying.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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