Kabila has accepted an OAU invitation to attend a mini-summit in Algeria on Tuesday, 4 July, to review the DRC peace process, diplomatic sources told IRIN on Thursday. It is understood that the heads of state of all the countries that are party to the Lusaka peace agreement will attend, in addition to those who were present at the 30 April Algiers summit, including South Africa, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia. Two items, in particular, are expected to dominate the Algiers meetings: the poor state of relations between the OAU-nominated facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue, former Botswana president Ketumile Masire; and the deployment of UN forces to consolidate the peace process. The UN and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) are carrying out shuttle diplomacy between the belligerents of the Lusaka agreement to try and find a solution to the DRC government's rejection of Masire as dialogue facilitator. Officials from both Masire's office and the OAU confirmed this week that efforts were being made for a possible meeting of those involved.
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