- Title: VARIOUS: INTER-CONGOLESE DIALOGUE TO END WAR IN FORMER ZAIRE IS DUE TO START
- Date: 26th February 2002
- Summary: (W4) KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE) (REUTERS) 1. SLV MAIN STREET IN KINSHASA, PEOPLE MILLING AROUND; TRAFFIC AND PEOPLE MILLING AROUND IN KINSHASA; MORE PEOPLE MILLING AROUND IN STREETS OF KINSHASA (3 SHOTS) 0.10 (W4)EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE) (REUTERS) 2. SLV WAR SCENES IN THE EASTERN CONGO (8 SHOTS) 0.30 (W4)CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT)(REUTERS) 3. (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI SAYING "We are also humbled to play host later this month to the Inter Congolese Dialogue which will decide what happens to this critically important country of our continent." 0.43 4. HAS INTERIOR OF SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL PARLIAMENT AS PRESIDENT MBEKI ADDRESSES PARLIAMENTARIANS 0.46 (W4)GABERONE, BOTSWANA (FEBRUARY 22, 2002) (REUTERS) 5. MV SIR KHETUMILE MASIRE TALKING TO PEOPLE IN THE PASSAGES AND CORRIDORS OF HIS OFFICES 1.00 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SIR KHETUMILE MASIRE, FACILITATOR TO THE INTER CONGOLESE DIALOGUE "One would hope that they would come up with a political formula for a new political dispensation. Much the same way as the South Africans did at the end of their national conference." 1.19 (W4) DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE) (REUTERS) 7. MV JOSEPH KABILA, SON OF SLAIN FORMER LEADER LAURENT KABILA, BEING SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT; MV AUDIENCE CLAPPING (2 SHOTS) 1.25 8. MV PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA SURROUNDED BY CONGOLESE HIGH COURT JUDGES WEARING THEIR RED ROBES; MV AUDIENCE APPLAUDING; MV PRESIDENT JOSEPH KABILA WALKING PAST FLANKED BY HIS SECURITY MEN (3 SHOTS) 1.32 (W4) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 14, 2002)(REUTERS) 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KIKAYA BIN KARUBI, DRC MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SAYING "Basically everything is negotiable. There are things that we will not negotiate. That, for example, the fact that Major General Joseph Kabila is the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo. And in our country we do have various structures and the Presidency is not concerned with the Lusaka ceasefire agreement. The Government is and the government is coming. But the President is there and he is the one who personifies the national unity and the territorial integrity of our country. We will not negotiate the presidential seat because it is not vacant." 2.18 (W4) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 20, 2002)(REUTERS) 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) THOMAS NZIRATIMANA, CONGOLESE RALLY FOR DEMOCRACY SAYING "There is not any politician who should allow himself to put his own interests before the interests of 50 million people. So, I think it would serve nobody to make this peace process a failure. It would rather deserve an attention of everybody and commitment of all parties to make it a success." 2.39 (W4) EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE) (REUTERS) 11. SLV SOLDIERS IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE DRC WALKING WITH THEIR WEAPONS AND PERSONAL EFFECTS ON THEIR HEADS; SLV MORE SOLDIERS WALKING IN THE BUSH; SLV SOLDIERS MARCHING PAST CHILDREN IN THE FOREGROUND; SLV SOLDIERS WALKING IN THE BUSH; MV SOLDIERS WITH A BICYCLE; MV YOUTHS LOOKING-ON AS SOLDIERS MARCH BY (6 SHOTS) 2.55 (W4) JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT - FEBRUARY 20, 2002) (REUTERS) 12. (SOUNDBITE) (French) ETIENNE TSHISEKEKEDI WA MULUMBA, UNION FOR DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS (UDPS) SAYING "Everything is negotiable. As long as it is in the context and spirit of the Lusaka Peace Accords whereby we are able to establish a lawful and democratic State in the Congo. What is not negotiable? A person, for example, cannot use the war to say he deserves a position in government. That would mean using arguments to justify the continuation of the dictatorship which reasons by believing that it (the government) is there not to serve the noble interests of the people but is rather there to drive his own personal interests. That we will never accept." 3.37 (W4) KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (FILE) (REUTERS) 13. SLV MONUC SOLDIERS ASSEMBLING (3 SHOTS) 3.45 14. MV MORE MONUC SOLDIERS WITH KOFI ANNAN, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL, LINING UP FOR A PHOTO TO BE TAKEN; MV KOFI ANNAN AND MONUC SOLDIERS (3 SHOTS) 3.53 (W4) PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA (FEBRUARY 22, 2002)(REUTERS) 15. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS SAYING "Our duty all of us is to encourage the Congolese to come together and collectively determine their future. It's to encourage Mr. Bemba, to encourage everybody to find a solution, so let's not say, well, he's not going to come. Let's say we need to find a solution so that everybody is there. And I am sure between them, the Congolese and the Facilitation team will try and find a solution. And for us we will support them in the background to give whatever assistance they would need in finding that solution but I am quietly confident that the Congolese future is much bigger than this problem. Therefore they will find a solution so that they can move on." 4.45 16. MV NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA SEATED 4.50 (W4) SUN CITY, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE)(ACCESS) 17. AV SUN CITY PROMOTIONAL VIDEO (6 SHOTS) 5.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 13th March 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KINSHASA AND EASTERN AREAS, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO/CAPE TOWN, JOHANNESBURG AND PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA/GABERONE, BOTSWANA
- City:
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Reuters ID: LVABP2EZVSXKG7DRWSZGVM0YMFFM
- Story Text: The long-awaited inter-Congolese dialogue to end
three-and-one-half years of war in the former Zaire is due to
start in South Africa's Sun City resort on Monday.
As life in Kinshasa appears to be carrying on as
normal, both rebel and government delegates for the Inter
Congolese Dialogue are arriving in South Africa. The goal of
the talks on Monday (February 25), scheduled to last 45 days,
is to chart a peaceful transition to democracy in Africa's
third largest nation.
The Congo war began in August 1998 when rebels backed by
Rwanda and Uganda invaded to overthrow Laurent Kabila's
central government.
Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia have propped-up the
government during the conflict, which has split the country
and claimed an estimated two million lives from violence,
hunger and disease.
Under the 1999 peace accords signed in the Zambian capital
Lusaka, the inter-Congolese dialogue was supposed to prepare
for a political solution for the Congo free of foreign
influence.
For President Thabo Mbeki, who announced earlier this
month that South Africa would be hosting the Inter-Congolese
dialogue, it is significant that fellow African nations
attempt democratisation through negotiation. In this regard
and especially within an African context, South Africa's
stature is supported by its positive and potentially
stabilising role.
But some prominent opposition parties and a main rebel
group said this week that they would not attend because of a
dispute over representation.
Democratic Republic of Congo peace facilitator Ketumile
Masire said recently that talks aimed at ending Africa's
"World War One" would go ahead next week as planned despite a
boycott threat by a major rebel group.
"We are confident that all parties to the dialogue will
attend Monday's opening talks," Masire's spokesman, George
Ola-Davies, told Reuters by telephone from Botswana.
"This is the time for all parties involved to show true
statesmanship for the sake of the Congolese people. Everyone
else is coming on board and I believe even those who have
threatened to boycott will eventually turn up," Ola-Davies
said.
South Africa and European Union countries are footing the
budgeted $4 million bill for the gathering at which about 400
delegates are expected.
Namibia has withdrawn its troops but regional analysts say
neither Rwanda, Uganda, Angola nor Zimbabwe want Congo to be
free of their control. All the foreign armies are accused of
helping themselves liberally to its mineral wealth.
The United Nations said on Wednesday (February 20) that
Zimbabwe had withdrawn 140 troops who had been stationed in
the diamond city of Mbuji-Mayi. This still left nearly 8,000
Zimbabweans in the country, Western diplomats say.
President Joseph Kabila, who replaced his murdered father
in January 2001, will not consider sharing power with rebels
unless full Rwandan and Ugandan withdrawal is guaranteed.
Rwanda and Uganda, for their part, refuse to consider
withdrawal until a transitional government is established and
their border security is guaranteed.
The Kabila government abandoned the original dialogue in
Ethiopia in October, blaming poor funding and representation.
Then the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy
(RCD) shunned recent talks in Geneva, where the government
appeared to improve links with Jean-Pierre Bemba's
Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC).
Now the MLC says it will not attend the talks because of
insufficient representation for opposition political parties.
South African officials said they were in contact with
Bemba to try to resolve the latest hiccup to the dialogue.
On Wednesday, France and Britain warned armed rebel groups
and opposition parties not to undermine the fragile peace
process by boycotting the talks.
France and the United Kingdom are extremely concerned by
certain (rebel groups) and opposition parties who have
threatened not to participate in the inter-Congolese dialogue
in Sun City, French ambassador Gildas Le Lidec said.
Congolese Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi said the
government was disappointed by the MLC's announcement but
intended to see the talks through to the end.
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