UN-Backed Talks Between DR Congo And Rebels

Security Arrangements Dominate UN-Backed Talks Between DR Congo And Rebels

New York, Jan 9 2009 5:10PM

United Nations-backed talks aimed at bringing an end to the deadly conflict between the Government and rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been focusing on security matters, including a possible ceasefire, since resuming earlier this week in Nairobi, a senior official said today.

“We have been going into details of elements of the security arrangements such as a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities agreements,” co-mediator and former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa said at the close of today’s discussions.

The Nairobi talks, between the Government and the rebel National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP), began last month with the goal of ending the ongoing conflict, which has uprooted an estimated 250,000 people since late August on top of the 800,000 already displaced in the region, mainly in North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda and Uganda.

Mr. Mkapa later met and briefed his co-mediator Olusegun Obasanjo, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region and former president of Nigeria, who was returning from three days of consultations with key players Kinshasa, Kigali and eastern DRC.

The talks are set to resume tomorrow under the chairmanship of the Kenyan Foreign Minister, Moses Wetangula, representing President Mwai Kibaki.

ENDS

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