Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
10 January 2008
Kigali — Rwanda did not attend the ongoing conference of DR Congo belligerents because the Congolese invitation did not follow the established diplomatic channels, the Foreign Affairs Minister said on Thursday.
Dr. Charles Murigande said the invitation was brought to Rwanda Presidential Envoy to the Great Lakes Dr. Richard Sezibera by the UN Mission in the DRC - instead of the 'government of Rwanda'.
"The letter was brought by MONUC (UN Mission) on 5th (December) to Ambassador Sezibera - a day before the conference was to start on 6th (December) written by DRC Foreign Affairs Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi. There seemed to be something fishy", Murigande told reporters at a press briefing alongside the visiting Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Ms. Gunilla Carlsson.
"That is not how government is invited. The invitation was supposed to have been sent to the government of Rwanda - which would decide who represents it".
The Swedish Minister has been on a regional tour that saw her attend the opening session of the much publicized conference taking place in Goma in eastern DRC. She was also in Kinshasa.
About 800 delegates representing a wide array of armed groups and government officials are attending the peace talks, which according to reports have been praised by the U.N. as an attempt to halt the spiraling violence.
Minister Murigande said: "But probably the Congolese Minister may have invited Ambassador Sezibera (individually). As a civil servant - he cannot go without permission. But they did not allow him enough time for such a process to take effect".
Unconfirmed reports coming in suggest that DRC Minister Mbusa Nyamwisi has responded to Rwanda assertions saying he sent an email to his counterpart in Kigali to notify him about the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that the 10-member delegation representing renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda has abandoned the talks following an incident in which its delegate was 'briefly detained'.
"We have provisionally suspended our participation in this peace conference because we want to have a guarantee of our security from officials," Mr. Kambasu Ngeve is quoted to have said. "We are awaiting an official guarantee of our security from the government or else we're leaving for good.
According to sources in the ranks of Gen. Nkunda, a top aid was taken away for an hour at 16hours (14 GMT) by UN Mission officials who apparently claimed he stands suspect to have been behind the death of former DRC president Laurent Désiré Kabila. It was later noted that it had been a mistaken identity.
The incident happened as the Nkunda delegation was meeting diplomats from the EU, African Union and others to put to them their side of the argument on how the raging conflict in the vast country can be ended, the sources said.
But MONUC Spokesman rejected the allegations. There was no arrest and no detention of any member of (Nkunda's group) by the U.N. mission in Congo or by the Congolese authorities, Mr. Kemal Saiki told AP.
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