Nigerian police to ensure talks’ security, Minister says

Nigeria has sent 52 police officers to Kinshasa to provide security for rebel leaders invited to a national consultative meeting launched on Tuesday by Congolese religious groups, news agencies reported. Interior Minister Gaetan Kakudji, presenting the Nigerian policemen on state television on Thursday, said the officers had arrived in the capital on Wednesday to give “maximum protection” to any rebel leaders showing up for the talks. Congolese rebel leaders have so far declined to attend, saying the meeting constituted an attempt by President Laurent-Desire Kabila to undermine planned inter-Congolese negotiations called for in the Lusaka ceasefire agreement. But Kakudji said the presence of the Nigerian police should “reassure those who are still afraid,” AFP reported.

Meanwhile, Kabila said several African heads of state who had been invited to Kinshasa to participate in the talks’ opening could not attend because they had been informed too late, Congolese television reported. “They even asked me to postpone the meeting, but because the initiative was taken by religious leaders, I did not want to ask for a postponement,” Kabila said on Tuesday.