Possible hitch in rebel meeting

A planned meeting next week between the three rebel groups in the DRC faces a possible hitch after the leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) Ernest Wamba dia Wamba said he would not attend. Wamba told IRIN on Wednesday he was not involved at the consultation level and was “not aware” of the meeting. “You cannot call a consultation meeting without first discussing it with those concerned,” he said.

The Ugandan daily ‘The Monitor’ on Wednesday quoted the rival RCD-Goma faction leader, Emile Ilunga, as saying the three rebel groups would meet next week in an effort to resolve their differences. “We want to see if we can’t bury our differences and harmonise our point of view, so we can have the same political vision against [President Laurent-Desire] Kabila,” he was quoted as saying in Kigali.

However Wamba said that “if they were genuine they would have contacted us”. He added that unity would not come from either Rwanda or Uganda who have been trying to reconcile the rebel groups. “You cannot bring groups together from the outside,” he said. “Each of the rebel groups must have a link with the population and we must create conditions for political stability through peace and dialogue.”