New leadership aims to “reanimate” peace process

President Joseph Kabila’s overseas diplomatic offensive this week is an effort to breathe new life into the Lusaka peace process, according to Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu. “What we want is to reanimate Congolese diplomacy towards an opening on the world and the search for a peaceful solution in the DRC,” the BBC on Thursday quoted him as saying.

President Kabila’s overseas diplomacy this week - including a visit to French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday, en route to the US where he met US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday - has been described as “a major diplomatic effort” to consolidate his legitimacy at home and abroad by news organisations. Kabila is due to meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and address the UN Security Council on Friday - in order “to ensure the continuation of decisions” in relation to the DRC, according to a government statement.

Kabila said his talks with Chirac were “fruitful and profitable”. A spokesman for Chirac said the new DRC president had declared his desire to see the Lusaka accord implemented “while insisting on the necessity of the restoration of a free Congo with its internationally recognised borders,” the German Press Agency (dpa) reported. The DRC president had also said he was available immediately to take part in “a national dialogue, with no preconditions,” it said.