'We will meet Kabila
anywhere' DRC faction
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kigali | Monday 5.30pm
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THE political leader of a rebel faction opposed to the rule of Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila has said he is ready to hold direct, unconditional talks with the head of state.
Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, the disputed leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, "told a meeting of 12 000 people on Sunday that he is ready to meet Kabila anywhere, even in Kinshasa, to bring peace to the country," his associate Willy Mishiki said by telephone from Kinsangani, a rebel base in the northeast.
"We are ready to negotiate without preconditions. because the people of [DR] Congo have suffered for too long during a useless war [since last August]," Wamba dia Wamba said.
Last week, military elements in the RCD announced that Wamba dia Wamba had been replaced as the movement's leader, but he rejected the ouster and, still insisting he was party chairman, shifted his headquarters from Goma, on the Rwandan border, to Kisangani, some 1 600 kilometers northeast of Kinshasa.
Troops from both Uganda and Rwanda support the rebels, but divisions have developed between Kampala and Kigali over military and diplomatic policies. On Saturday, four people died and 10 were injured when one rebel faction exchanged fire with Ugandan troops in Kisangani.
Wamba dia Wamba has also announced forthcoming universal suffrage elections at all administrative levels for "liberated" territories, Mishiki explained.
Meanwhile, rebels have captured 14 Zimbabwean soldiers and shot down two helicopters in Kasai province, Radio Rwanda said on Monday, quoting rebel sources.
"Fourteen Zimbabwean soldiers as well as [Hutu] Interahamwe militias were taken prisoner by rebel forces who said they had inflicted heavy losses on the enemy during fighting around Kabinda," the radio said. Kabinda, gateway to the diamond town of Mbuji-Mayi and the scene of clashes for more than two months, is under the control of government troops, the source said. -- AFP |
