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Salim seeks more decisive action

Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Salim Ahmed Salim said on Wednesday that the crisis in DRC would be the main focus of next week’s OAU meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Speaking at a news conference in Pretoria after meeting South African officials, Salim ruled out the likelihood of a DRC peace summit in Lusaka, Zambia, until “all outstanding issues” were resolved. These included the rebels’ position on a ceasefire, and the security concerns of the governments of the DRC, Uganda, Rwanda and Angola. “Increasingly, all the parties to this conflict do understand that there cannot be a military solution,” he said. Although the OAU should act more decisively in such crises, he said this depended on cooperation among member nations. Kabila said in a press conference in Kinshasa on Tuesday that at the Ouagadougou summit next Thursday his country would negotiate with “the invaders to leave our country”. Kabila has ruled out direct talks with the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), which is led by Ernest Wamba dia Wamba. “These are not political opponents, they have been created by the invaders,” Kabila said.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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