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Congo-Kinshasa: Absence of Delegates From Rwanda May Scuttle Talks
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The Nation (Nairobi)
11 January 2008
Posted to the web 11 January 2008
Juakali Kambale
Goma
The absence of Rwanda's representative is likely to undermine the success of a conference on peace, security and development in Eastern Congo.
The entire Democratic Republic Congo has its attention focused on Goma, the capital city of the North Kivu province, where peace talks are under way.
The talks aim at ending the climate of instability created by a decade of wars and rebellions generally supported by neighbouring Rwanda.
Goma is a small and modest city of 6,00 0 people which still holds stigmas of the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano which destroyed parts of it in January 2002.
Most of the houses were swallowed with lava till the 3rd floor.
But the courageous people of Goma have stoically undertaken the reconstruction of the city by using the same lava stones as row material to rebuild houses defying the both the volcano's threats and the permanent situation of insecurity prevailing in the province since October 1996 when the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo launched war.
The war started in South Kivu province, a military attack led by young Tutsi Banyamulenge troops supported by Rwanda. Since then, the province did not live in peace.
Currently, another Tutsi led rebellion, also supported by Rwanda is raging.
It launched an attack against the government troops, defeating them in August 2007. This is somehow the background of the conference on peace, security and development which finally started on Wednesday in the city of Goma.
The meeting was expected to start on January 6, but due to some organizational and logistical problems the Day one was delayed to Wednesday.
Due also to the same delay, the closure of the conference has been extended to January 17.
More 800 persons mainly coming from the two provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu are participating in the peace talks: Civil Society Organisations, traditional leaders, the international community, various armed groups representatives including. Women organisations have been specifically invited due to the disaster Congolese women especially in the two provinces are facing.
Lots of national officials have joined Goma for the conference.
The government is represented by 20 ministers and deputy ministers mainly in charge of Internal Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Social and humanitarians Affairs.
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About 100 MPs at national and provincial levels have also been invited to join the conference.
According to Father Apollinaire Malumalu, chairman of the meeting, the conference must be as inclusive as possible.
Foreign delegates are also participating in the conference. Some external facilitators include the SADC delegation plus Uganda and Burundi which were part part of the Congo's two wars in 1996 and 1998.
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