DRC-Rwanda 'war' worries Mbeki
2004-06-21 11:01
Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki expressed concern on Monday about a "potentially catastrophic war" between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
Mbeki said he had heard radio reports that the Rwandan government was prepared to defend itself if attacked by soldiers from its neighbour, the DRC.
The United Nations has confirmed that the Congolese government was moving a large number of soldiers to the east of the country, near the Rwandan border, apparently to attack the Rwandan government.
"When I leave here I will have to do a lot of phoning around about this," Mbeki said. He was addressing the 49th conference of the International Council for Small Business at the Sandton Convention Centre.
"When you hear radio reports about possibilities of war it must worry us."
The potential of a war between the two countries could throw out the peace process - towards resolving the DRC's civil war, in which the rebels were supported by Rwanda - brokered by South Africa in 2002.
Mbeki said the African Union had dispatched Alpha Konare, the president of the AU Commission, to the Sudan where a civil war is still in progress. Konare will brief Mbeki by phone later on Monday.
- SAPA