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ders Broker Congo Peace Deal
By Buchizya Mseteka
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Negotiators between the warring
parties in Laurent Kabila's Democratic Republic of the Congo said Monday
they had brokered a peace agreement involving a ceasefire and troop
standstill.
Talks chairman President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia told reporters after
marathon talks that the parties would sign the deal at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
''We had a very good meeting (among the heads of state),'' Chiluba said.
''All of us agreed what must happen in the Congo.''
One of the negotiators told Reuters the draft agreement proposes an
immediate ceasefire and a troop standstill, then further talks to reach a more
lasting settlement.
Chiluba's meeting with the heads of state followed separate negotiations with
the rebel delegation, which was excluded from meeting face-to-face with the
heads of state.
Earlier indications had been that Kabila, his allies Presidents Robert Mugabe
of Zimbabwe, Sam Nujoma of Namibia and Jose Eduardo dos Santos of
Angola, had disagreed with the rebel supporters -- President Yoweri
Museveni of Uganda and his Rwandan counterpart Pasteur Bizimungu.
The leader of the rebel delegation, Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma, deputy president of
the Congolese Democratic Coalition, had said after talking with Chiluba that
he wasn't hopeful for a deal.
On the battlefront there were no signs of fighting abating.
Rebels in Goma, in the east of the country, said on Monday that government
forces retreating from three eastern towns had killed at least 264 people, the
majority ethnic Tutsi civilians.
Lundu Bululu, a senior member of the rebel movement, said his troops had
found the bodies in Kalemie, Vyura and Kisangani.
He gave reporters a detailed list of the casualties, adding that rebel troops
were among the casualties.
At the summit, African leaders had kept the rebel delegation at arms length for
much of Monday before Chiluba achieved a breakthrough.
The talks, between the rebel delegation, Chiluba and Organisation of African
Unity secretary-general Salim Ahmed Salim, appeared to have saved the
meeting at Victoria Falls from breakdown.
One summit source said Rwanda had initially threatened to walk out if the
rebels were not admitted and Angolan President Dos Santos had threatened
to quit if they were.
''The position of the summit, which was pushed by Angola, Zimbabwe and
Namibia, is that the rebels should not be allowed to join the talks, but could
hold consultations on the sidelines of the summit,'' the summit source told
Reuters.
''We need to hear their side of the story because we cannot negotiate in a
vacuum,'' Chiluba told Reuters before meeting the rebel team.
Earlier on Monday, chief rebel negotiator Ngoma had complained to Reuters
that his team was being kept in a remote hotel room without even a telephone.
The talks were the first to gather Kabila and his allies in the same location as
the rebels and their backers, Uganda and Rwanda.
The rebellion started on August 2.
Kabila accuses Uganda and Rwanda of sponsoring a Tutsi-led rebellion
against his government, which took power 16 months ago after defeating
dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
Mugabe cleared the way for the meeting during a Non-Aligned Movement
summit in Durban last week at which South African President Nelson
Mandela dropped his objection to the military intervention on Kabila's behalf.
Zimbabwe and Angola have sent troops to support Kabila.
Meanwhile Earnest Wamba dia Wamba, political leader of the rebels, told
Reuters from the rebel headquarters in the eastern town of Goma on Monday
that the government or its allies had bombed two rebel-held towns.
He said the bombs had missed their target in Kalemie, about 500 km (310
miles) south of Goma, falling into Lake Tanganyika.
Kabila's forces, backed by Angola and Zimbabwe, have broken the back of
the rebel assault to the west of Kinshasa and have stepped up the pressure on
the rebels' eastern stronghold.
In Goma, Bululu said rebel forces were on the outskirts of the strategic town
of Kindu, the site of one of the last major airports in the northeast still held by
Kabila's troops.
Kindu is strategically placed on the Lualaba River -- which feeds the Congo
River -- between Goma and Kisangani, which fell to the rebels last month.
In the northeast, rebels are moving to consolidate gains, advancing toward
Banalia, about 120 km (75 miles) north of Kisangani, Wamba said.
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