Allegations traded at the inter-Congolese dialogue

Talks in Sun City, South Africa, between the leaders of the warring parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) broke down on Wednesday, with allegations being traded between government representatives and rebels.

It had been hoped that the talks between the DRC government and two rebel groups would settle a disagreement over who should take part in the full-scale inter-Congolese dialogue which opened in the holiday resort on Monday but was suspended the following day.

But the negotiations within the negotiations seemed to have raised more problems than they solved, an IRIN reporter observed.

The main negotiators for the rebels said on Tuesday there was no point in continuing the talks unless the cease-fire in the DRC, agreed under the Lusaka peace accord in 1999, was respected. They also called on the facilitator of the dialogue, Ketumile Masire, to reject 20 opposition delegates who, they claim, are stooges for the government.

Then one of the rebel negotiators, the secretary general of the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), Azarias Ruberwa, raised two new problems: the facilitator's choice of delegates to represent the Mayi-Mayi militia fighters in the east of the DRC, and a decision by the facilitator to increase the quota for a breakaway faction of RCD, known as RCD-ML, from nine to 16.

Both government and rebels agree that there has been renewed fighting in eastern DRC, near Lake Tanganyika. The government spokesman, Vital Kamehre, claimed it started on 22 February when Rwandan army forces and their RCD allies attacked Moliro, on the shores of the lake.

The RCD spokesman, Bizima Karaha, said the government had attacked first and had pushed the RCD back 100 km. Diplomatic sources in Sun City said it had been confirmed that the Rwandan army and the RCD attacked Moliro on 22 February, but then pulled back, and that government forces had followed them and were now on the wrong side of the cease-fire line.

The Rwandan army had repeatedly warned that it might take action at Moliro, which, it claims, the government has occupied in contravention of a cease-fire agreement. "It's no coincidence the fighting is happening at this time," said a diplomat, who suggested that the belligerents were not seriously interested in the inter-Congolese dialogue.

A senior official of the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC), the rebel group which is refusing to take part in the inter-Congolese dialogue due to alleged bias among the opposition groups, complained: "The government started an offensive on the same day as the talks started. The government has intentions to block this entire process," according to allAfrica.com.

Kabila's government retorted by stating that the rebels were "creating false problems and exaggerating their claims in an attempt to manipulate the international community".

Meanwhile, the opposition politicians, whose participation at the dialogue is in dispute, were blocked in Johannesburg as wrangling continued over who should take part in the talks.

One delegate, Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma, of the Forces du Futur party, accused the South African government of unwarranted interference in Congolese affairs, and complained that delegates had been "imprisoned" in the Town Lodge Hotel in Johannesburg and treated like "cattle" when they tried to reach Sun City.

Ngoma, who said he had entered Sun City "secretly" on Wednesday after he and other delegates were turned away on Monday, claimed the South African government had no right to stop him and the other delegates going to Sun City.

On top of this, another 30 opposition delegates, who were waiting in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, had said they would boycott the dialogue if members of the disputed group are all included in it, a source in Sun City told IRIN.

Delegates at the talks were meeting late on Wednesday to try to find a solution to the impasse.