Obasanjo to meet with Nkunda
2008-11-29 10:00
Kinshasa - The UN's special envoy was set to meet on Saturday with Congo rebel leader Laurent Nkunda after a fresh onslaught by his troops shattered a fragile truce and thousands more were displaced by clashes.
Making his second trip to Democratic Republic of Congo this month, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo met on Friday with President Joseph Kabila.
Accompanied by former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa, Obasanjo met Kabila at his residence ahead of talks Saturday with Nkunda.
"The next step is that we are meeting Mr Nkunda tomorrow," said Mkapa after talks lasting around 90 minutes. "We are meeting him because we want to see the elements of the way forward."
Friday's talks were held amid an advance by rebels near the Ugandan border that saw them seize of the town of Ishasha.
Mkapa refused to go into details of his discussions with Kabila, but warned Nkunda is unlikely to achieve his aim of direct talks with Kinshasa, at least in the short term.
"It would be very imprudent of him to ask for direct talks at once," the envoy said. "Dialogue does not necessarily have to start at the top."
Obasanjo's visit comes amid new tensions, with the UN refugee agency saying about 13 000 people have fled across the border into Uganda over the last couple of days to escape fighting.
Nkunda's rebels - who claim to be protecting the local Tutsi population - have clashed with pro-government Mai-Mai militia and advanced more than 30km north in less than 24 hours.
"There is a small CNDP presence in Ishasha," Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, spokesperson for the UN peacekeepers, said on Friday, referring to Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People.
"A MONUC patrol is in the process of travelling to the location," he said, using the acronym for the UN mission.
The rebel movement however said on Friday it was ready to retreat to its original position if MONUC secured the area.
- SAPA