RCD-Goma to organise inter-Mayi-Mayi dialogue

The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement hopes to organise a meeting with the principal representatives of the Mayi-Mayi Congolese militias before the beginning of the inter-Congolese dialogue on 15 October in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, AFP reported on Wednesday.

"The question of the integration of the Mayi-Mayi in the inter-Congolese dialogue" will be discussed at this meeting, RCD-Goma Secretary General Azarias Ruberwa was quoted as having told AFP, without specifying a date or location.

Factions of the Mayi-Mayi have been fighting soldiers of the RCD-Goma and their Rwandan supporters in the North and South Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since August 1998, when rebel movements supported by Uganda and Rwanda launched an assault to topple the DRC president at the time, Laurent-Desire Kabila. The inter-Congolese dialogue, a key element of the Lusaka peace agreement signed in 1999, will bring together representatives of the Kinshasa government, armed opposition groups, opposition political parties and civil society. However, the peace accord made no provision for inclusion of "negative forces" - armed non-signatories to Lusaka, such as the Mayi-Mayi, the Interahamwe and the ex-FAR, who continue to threaten peace and stability in DRC's eastern provinces - in the inter-Congolese dialogue.