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Kabila's envoy meets Rwandan president in rare contact |
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May 15, 2000
KIGALI, MAY 14 (AP) - A Congolese envoy on Saturday carried a rare message of peace from President Laurent Kabila to Rwanda, Congo's principal enemy in its 1 1/2-year civil war, Rwandan officials said.
Congolese Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the first such contact since Rwanda poured troops and weapons in support of Congolese rebels in 1998, when the war broke out, said officials who asked that they not be named.
Kabila reportedly expressed his interest for a quick end to the war and hoped to initiate direct contact with Rwandans, officials familiar with the meeting said.
Neither governments officially commented on the meeting. A long search for peace in Congo has entered a crucial stage with plans by the United Nations to deploy 5,537 U.N. personnel to oversee a fragile cease-fire, separation of combatants and a withdrawal of foreign troops.
Kabila and the rebels signed a peace agreement last August and reaffirmed their commitment to a cease-fire last month. Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, which back Kabila, have also signed, as did Rwanda and Uganda, which back the rebels.
But since last week, Rwandan and Ugandan armies who back rival rebel factions have clashed in the northern Congolese city of Kisangani, leaving at least 28 civilians and 15 soldiers dead.
The unexpected fighting on the sidelines of the Congolese war has complicated plans to deploy U.N. observers and troops in between the government and the rebels, as U.N. officials in Congo focused their attention on preventing the wider conflict between the two allies.
Meanwhile, former Botswana President Ketumile Masire returned to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa in his role as a mediator among the government, rebels and Congolese political parties who are supposed to agree on the shape of Congo's future democratic government.
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