RCD accepts principle of troop reduction in Kisangani

The leader of the rebel RCD-Goma, Emile Ilunga, said on Saturday he accepted the principle of a partial disengagement of RCD forces in Kisangani, but only on condition that national sovereignty was accepted, Agence France-Press (AFP) news agency reported on Sunday. Rwandan and Ugandan troops have withdrawn from the city, leaving it in the control of the RCD. Ilunga was speaking after a meeting with UN Special Envoy to the DRC Kamel Morjane and General Mountaga Diallo, Commander of the UN Observer Mission in the DRC (MONUC), in the eastern town of Goma. “Kisangani remains a DRC town which the RCD have conquered, therefore its military and administrative rule is not negotiable,” AFP quoted Ilunga as saying. Morjane said the DRC situation, in general, and the matter of the inter-Congolese dialogue, in particular, were due to be addressed at the OAU mini-summit. Former Botswana president Ketumile Masire would remain as facilitator of the inter-Congolese dialogue process, despite objections raised by the DRC government, Morjane was quoted as saying.