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Lusaka peace summit postponed pending "consensus"

    NAIROBI

    A peace summit for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) scheduled for Thursday in Lusaka has been postponed pending confirmation that all parties will participate, Zambian presidential spokesman Arthur Yoyo told IRIN on Tuesday.

    "We have not been able to get a consensus," he said, adding that the talks would be held "once we have an indication from everybody that they are agreeable" about attending. The postponement, he said, was not based on any particular issue, but rather it was "basically about getting everybody to agree to come".

    The announcement came a day after the DRC government said it would not attend the summit, dismissing the latest efforts to end Africa's biggest war - in the DRC - as "a waste of time", Reuters reported. "We don't see the opportunity in going," Kikaya Bin Karubi, the DRC government spokesman, was quoted as telling Reuters. "There is no urgency in holding a summit in Lusaka today, he added"

    Efforts to hold the summit have come in the wake of fierce fighting in the eastern DRC city of Kisangani, where a reported mutiny within the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement has resulted in scores of civilian and military dead.

    Inter-Congolese dialogue facilitator Ketumile Masire is leading efforts to resume the talks with the help of the Organisation of African Unity, Africa's foremost political body. It’s secretary-general, Amara Essy, who has set a team in motion to organise a brief visit to the DRC, reiterated that any deal that excluded one or more parties "would simply not work".

    The inter-Congolese dialogue, held in Sun City, South Africa, ended inconclusively on 19 April, with an agreement among the Kinshasa government of President Joseph Kabila, the Ugandan-backed Mouvement de liberation du Congo of Jean-Pierre Bemba, and the majority of delegates from unarmed political opposition groups and civil society. The agreement gained the approval of Angola, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The other main rebel group in DRC, RCD-Goma, rejected it outright, effectively isolating itself and its ally, Rwanda.

    Those who were party to the agreement reached in Sun City have announced that they will install a transitional government in Kinshasa on 15 June.

    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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