Dos Santos “hopeful” on troop withdrawal

Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos said in the Belgian capital, Brussels, on Tuesday that he was hopeful that all foreign troops would withdraw from the DRC, though he did not say when. “Our priority is the peace in DRC. We have signed the Lusaka Agreement and we are full of hope that all the troops will withdraw,” he told a press conference. Until then, consultations would go on to follow up the inter-Congolese dialogue, he added. “Everybody is perfectly aware that a withdrawal of the Angolan and Zimbabwean troops before a political agreement could lead to risks of implosion,” Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs Louis Michel added. Meanwhile, Angolan Minister for Foreign Affairs Joao Bernardo Miranda said there was “no problem at all” between Angolan and Zimbabwean troops in the DRC. “Zimbabwean troops are more important in the field, but it doesn’t change anything. We share the tasks,” he told journalists. Asked about the assassination in January of then DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila, Miranda said: “We don’t know yet who murdered Kabila. The result of the investigation so far is provisional”. Dos Santos and Miranda were in Brussels for a working visit, during which Belgium and Angola on Monday signed a protocol of cooperation in order to fight more efficiently against the illegal trafficking of Angolan diamonds.