Johannesburg — Prospects for the resumption of Congo peace talks in Sun City, South Africa took a further nosedive Wednesday, when government and rebel representatives accused one another of violating the ceasefire which is the bedrock of the Lusaka Peace Accords of 1999.
The talks, formally known as the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, aim to end three and a half years of civil war, in which two million people have been killed.
The two main rebel factions complained to reporters in Sun City that President Joseph Kabilas army had launched a military offensive against their positions in eastern Congo, but they were sketchy on the details of the action. These latest developments, they said, made the continuation of the current negotiations to end the Congo conflict impossible; they are demanding an immediate ceasefire.
The Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), which is said to control a third of the country, and the rival Goma-based Congolese Rally for the Democracy (RCD-Goma), backed by Rwanda, say that while they are meant to be talking peace in Sun City, the government is busy making war back home.
A senior MLC official complained: "The government started an offensive on the same day as the talks started. The government has intentions to block this entire process."
Kabilas government fired back with a statement denouncing the rebels for "creating false problems and exaggerating their claims in an attempt to manipulate the international community."
Meanwhile, the facilitator of the talks, the former Botswana president Sir Ketumile Masire, and his team have been working overtime to try to iron out the other contentious issue - the representation of Congolese political opposition groups in Sun City. This problem was the initial reason for the suspension of the talks, before they had even begun, on Tuesday.
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Kabilas foreign minister heads the government delegation which stands accused, by the rebels and other Congolese, of hijacking the places reserved for the 'unarmed opposition' and filling them with its own loyalists, instead of genuine political opponents of Kabila.
On Tuesday, the Congolese Information Minister, Kikaya bin Karubi, told reporters in Sun City: "People are starting to understand whats going on and are seeing that those trying to derail the process are being exposed." Now others are accusing the Kinshasa government of doing just that.
Despite the accusations and counter-accusations, all sides still remain in Sun City (although President Kabila flew out of the South African resort, as scheduled, on Wednesday morning) so there may yet be grounds for hope.
The Inter-Congolese Dialogue was billed to last seven weeks but, if the first two days are any indication of the ability of the participants to reach agreement, the prospects do not look good.
