African leaders to meet on Congo

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- African heads of state meet in Zambia on Monday to try to salvage a peace deal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but success still requires a nod from defiant Congolese President Laurent Kabila, analysts said on Sunday.

The leaders from the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), Rwanda and Uganda will meet in the Zambian capital Lusaka to try to put back on track a collapsing peace deal signed there in July 1999.

VIDEO CNN's Jim Clancy talks with Learned Dees, of the National Endowment for Democracy, about the summit meeting in Lusaka, Zambia Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The conflict dubbed "Africa's First World War" entered its third year last week with no end in sight.

Rebels backed by three neighboring countries are fighting to overthrow Kabila, who says they must leave his country before he implements last year's accords. The rebels demand implementation first and withdrawal afterwards.

Analysts have warned that failure in Lusaka could lead to a resumption of full-scale war in the Congo, a vast country the size of Europe, and Africa's third largest.

The Congo remains the biggest headache for regional leaders and pressure is mounting for Kabila to play ball.

"Kabila has to bite the bullet and embrace peace. The alternative is war and we fear a resumption of full-scale war," a senior South African government official said.

Despite flare-ups of new fighting, there is increasing evidence that Kabila is not yet prepared to compromise.

He has prevented the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers and has rejected a peace facilitator, former Botswana president Sir Ketumile Masire.

"We expect the heads of state to be militant and call a spade a spade," Rwanda's presidential envoy Patrick Mazimhaka told Reuters by telephone from his capital Kigali.

"It is quite clear that Kabila is not interested in peace and this issue must be addressed frankly in Lusaka," he added.

Kabila has refused to guarantee security and freedom of movement for United Nations troops and personnel, blocking a deployment that should have started in February.

Zimbabwe expects progress at talks

Zimbabwe, which leads the military alliance backing Kabila and including Angola and Namibia, was hopeful the Lusaka talks would solve the impasse.

"We expect the meeting to iron out the problems that have arisen over implementation of the Lusaka Peace Accords," presidential spokesman George Charamba told Reuters.

But Mazimhaka challenged Kabila's allies to ensure that Kinshasa respected the peace deal.

Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe are bogged down in the Congo, supporting Kabila against Burundian, Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebels fighting to topple him.

Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, appointed by the SADC to mediate in the Congo, will chair Monday's talks and aides privately admit that he faces an uphill task.

A difficult task of reconciling positions

Rwanda has moved to strengthen the summit by proposing to withdraw its troops 200 kilometers (125 miles) from its front-line positions in the Congo, a move welcomed by the United States, but Kabila wants full withdrawal.

"The Congo will not tolerate under any circumstances the presence of aggressors on its territory," said Leonard Ntuaremba, the head of the government liaison committee with the United Nations military observer mission.

Congolese government sources told Reuters by telephone from Kinshasa that Kabila had one simple message for the summit: "Get the aggressors (Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda) off my territory and I will implement the Lusaka Accords."

The sources added that Kabila would extensively quote from a United Nations Security Council Resolution passed in June, which calls for the withdrawal of uninvited international troops.

Regional analysts said Kabila's hand was strengthened by unwavering support from his military allies who also demand a total withdrawal of the rebel forces.

But the rebel backers say they will only withdraw after Kabila has fully implemented the Lusaka Accords.

"It is a vicious circle and I doubt the Lusaka meeting will achieve much. Neither will it make any progress in harmonizing the two radical positions," a senior official at SADC headquarters in Botswana told Reuters by telephone.

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