DRC peace meet begins

2008-01-06 11:54

Goma - A peace conference on the Democratic Republic of Congo's strife-torn Nord- and Sud-Kivu provinces opens in the regional capital of Goma on Sunday, the organising committee announced.

"To begin with there will be an opening ceremony for the peace, development and security conference within the grounds of the Free University of the Great Lakes at Goma, the Nord-Kivu capital," the President of the Organising Committee, abbot Appollinaire Malu Malu, said.

Organised under the initiative of President Joseph Kabila, the eight-day conference aims to help end conflicts which have blighted the two provinces bordering Rwanda and Burundi, and build the foundations of a durable peace.

But the conference has already been delayed once, and is shadowed by scepticism and questions about whether a key rebel leader will attend.

Fierce combat

Since August 2007 Nord-Kivu has been the scene of fierce combat between the armed forces of DR Congo (FARDC), which has deployed nearly 25 000 troops in the region, and insurgent forces loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda, thought to number around 4 000.

The conflict has displaced around 800 000 people, according to the United Nations.

On Saturday the government officially announced the suspension of all military operations against rebels in Nord-Kivu, in order to lay the groundwork for the talks, Defence Minister Chikez Diemu said.

The gathering was originally scheduled for December 27, but delayed until January 6 to allow the organising committee to persuade various communities in both provinces about its merits.

"Everyone, without exception, has been invited to participate in the work of the conference," organising committee president Malu Malu said.

Those invited include heads of all the armed groups and militias in the region, including rebel leader Nkunda.

However, by late Saturday Nkunda's military movement, the National Congress of the Defence of the People (CNDP), had not confirmed whether its leader would attend.

Some demands

A Congolese Tutsi, Nkunda sees himself as the defender of his community and demands the eradication of Rwandan Hutu rebels from DR Congo - some of whom participated in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, essentially carried out against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Nkunda also demands the return of around 46 000 Tutsi refugees who have taken shelter in neighbouring countries for several years.

Around 600 people - including government representatives, parliamentarians, community leaders, humanitarian workers and military chiefs - are expected to attend the meeting.

The participants will also include representatives from neighbouring countries, as well as the international community - whilst the city itself is under the protection of United Nations peacekeepers.

The Goma conference will also examine problems relating to the presence of both local and foreign armed militias in the region, border controls and patrols, illegal trafficking in minerals and the proliferation of arms in Nord- and Sud-Kivu.

In his New Year message to the Congolese, Kabila outlined what it would not include.

"This conference is not about some form of power-sharing, let alone revisiting the decisions already settled by the Congolese people in the most recent constitutional referendum" of 2006, the president said.

One militia group has already expressed doubts about its outcome.

In a communique to AFP from the "Mai Mai Patriots" - the political branch of a local militia which Nkunda accuses of supporting the Congolese army - claimed that "any favourable outcome for Nkunda's agenda will be spitting on the constitution and will legitimise all rebellions."

- AFP