Renewal of full-scale peace talks uncertain

The renewal of full-scale peace talks on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), involving all parties to the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD), remained uncertain on Friday as South African President Thabo Mbeki held talks with only one rebel group and various political opposition groups in Capetown, South Africa.

Mbeki told journalists on Friday that a DRC government envoy with whom he had met earlier in the week had said that Kinshasa felt that instead of going directly into substantive talks, they needed to discuss "modalities", including the format of the meetings and agenda items, South African news agency SAPA reported.

"The others, who had not been part of the agreement between the government and the [former rebel] Mouvement de liberation du Congo [MLC] felt nevertheless that they needed to meet, because they were not party to that agreement," the agency quoted Mbeki as saying. Mbeki was expected to continue the informal talks with members of opposition groups, civil society and rebel group Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) on Friday.

The purpose of the talks was to "assist the peace process so it can resume," Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo told IRIN on Thursday. Present were all of the parties who participated in the ICD, with the exception of the government and the MLC, he said.

Mbeki's presidency minister, Augustin Katumba Mwanke, who held talks with Mbeki on 7 May, said it was too soon to reconvene a meeting with RCD-Goma and political parties who refused to be party to the pact made between the MLC and the government of DRC President Joseph Kabila, French news agency AFP reported. "[MLC President Jean-Pierre] Bemba holds the same view," the agency quoted him as saying.

Under the agreement, Kabila will remain president in a transitional government, with Bemba assuming the post of prime minister. RCD-Goma, which was offered the position of presidency of the National Assembly, rejected the offer and then formed an alliance - called the Alliance pour la sauvegarde du dialogue intercongolais - with five unarmed opposition parties, one of them being the Etienne Tshisekedi-led Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS).

Meanwhile, US president George Bush told Mbeki on Thursday that he supported his efforts to strike an agreement on the makeup of a transitional government, news agencies reported. "He noted that South Africa can build on the progress made in Sun City between the Congo government and many other parties, and reaffirmed the need for an inclusive agreement," White House spokesman Ari Fleisher was reported as saying by the Associated Press.