Government walks out of inter-Congolese dialogue

On Thursday, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) delegation walked out of inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) talks being held in Sun City, South Africa, claiming that Rwanda and the Rwandan-backed rebel movement, Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), had violated the cease-fire in the DRC.

Since Thursday afternoon, forces of the Rwandan army and RCD had been attacking government positions at the port of Moliro on Lake Tanganyika, said the national security minister, Mwenze Kongolo. "The government has decided to suspend its participation in the inter-Congolese dialogue," he said, "until Rwanda and the RCD order their troops to withdraw from Moliro."

This is the second time during the talks that the government has accused its opponents of attacking Moliro. On 28 February, the DRC government declared a unilateral cease-fire around the town after fighting there threatened to derail the ICD, which had opened only three days earlier.

Moliro in eastern DRC is one of the few ports that the DRC government still controls on Lake Tanganyika. Rwanda and Burundi have in the past both accused the government of using the port to supply rebel groups fighting against their governments.

Meanwhile, the RCD spokesman, Kin Kiey Mulumba, said the government was attacking RCD positions in several sectors in the DRC. Asked why the RCD had not said so before, he said there were attacks on RCD positions every day. He declined to comment on whether Rwanda and the RCD had launched the latest offensive, but said the RCD had retaken Moliro in the past 10 days.

"In the cease-fire plans the town belongs to us," he said. "We don't think this is the real reason for the government to leave the negotiations. Now that Robert Mugabe has won elections in Zimbabwe, the government think they are strong and can walk out of these talks."

The United Nations Mission in the DRC (known by its French acronym, MONUC) has been unable to independently confirm or deny the accusations. Troop movement had, however been observed in Pepa, about 120 km northwest of Moliro, where government forces were claiming to have been attacked by the RCD, MONUC said.

The 350 delegates at the ICD have been talking in committees this week, but progress has remained slow. On Thursday, Kongolo reported that the defence committee was blocked in discussions regarding the establishment of a national army, because the government's position was that existing armies should be unified, whereas the rebels maintained that a new army should be created.

The secretary-general of the rebel Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), Olivier
Kamitatu, said on Thursday that three years might be needed to set up an army, starting with recruitment and then training. Recruitment was needed, because some guerilla groups and also some young people in Congo who were not part of existing forces wanted to form part of the new army, he said.

Observers are concerned that unless there is some fusion of forces, a new national army may become an addition to existing armed forces in the region.

Meanwhile, the President of the UN Security Council, Ole Peter Kolby, expressed "deep concern" about information received on the attacks on Moliro, in a statement issued on Thursday. The Council demanded that all fighting cease, he said, and called on all the parties to settle their differences through negotiation.

A high-level Security Council delegation was to be sent to the Great Lakes region in early May, in order to "give new impetus to the flagging peace processes" in the DRC and Burundi, the UN announced on Thursday.