Open Security Council debate on DRC scheduled

Prominent regional leaders will join senior western diplomats to discuss means of consolidating the Lusaka peace process on the DRC at a week-long open meeting of the UN Security Council from 24 to 28 January, UN officials stated on Thursday. US Ambassador to the UN and this month’s Security Council President Richard Holbrooke said DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila had agreed to attend the meeting, along with other regional leaders, at which the intention was “to revitalise and recalibrate the Lusaka peace process and to help reinforce an African solution to an African problem,” Agence-France Press (AFP) reported.

The coordinator of the Lusaka process, Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, and Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Robert Mugabe of Uganda and Zimbabwe - opposing combatant countries in the DRC - were expected to attend the meeting, UN officials told IRIN on Thursday. Of the other combatant countries, it was not clear who would represent Rwanda or whether Angola would be present, while Namibia was expected to be represented by foreign minister and UN General Assembly president Theo-Ben Gurirab, they added. OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim is also scheduled to participate.