Two aides proposed to help Masire with "shuttle diplomacy"

Two aides have been nominated to help Ketumile Masire, facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD), conduct "shuttle diplomacy" to bring all parties back to the negotiating table, Masire's spokesman told IRIN on Wednesday.

The nominees, Haile Menkarius of Eritrea and Moustapha Niasse of Senegal, both of whom worked closely with Masire at the ICD. Menkarius was a UN representative at the talks that took place from 25 February until 19 April in Sun City, South Africa. Niasse served as chairman of the political and legal commission, which many observers viewed as having had the most difficult task at the peace conference.

The two diplomats, whose nominations had already been approved by the UN, the Organisation of African Unity, and the office of the facilitator, would play a complementary support role to the facilitator, Masire spokesman George Ola-Davies said. They are currently being briefed at UN headquarters in New York before beginning a tour of the Great Lakes region to meet all the parties to the conflict.

The ICD ended with an alliance formed among the Democratic Republic of the Congo government of President Joseph Kabila, the Mouvement de liberation du Congo armed opposition organisation of Jean-Pierre Bemba, and a majority of representatives from the political opposition and civil society, whereby Kabila would remain president in a new government and Bemba would become prime minister.

The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement, which was offered the presidency of the National Assembly, rejected the offer and then formed an association - 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).

Whereas all parties have expressed their willingness to continue talks, the Kabila-Bemba camp insists that any further negotiations take place under the terms of their Sun City accord. However, the RCD-Goma-led alliance is refusing to recognise that accord, demanding that all matters be open for discussion in a renewed dialogue.