Congo summit ends in failure

In this story: Pressure on Kabila to accept terms 'Prepare ... for hostilities' Kabila: Masire is biased RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

LUSAKA, Zambia -- Weary African leaders ended 18 hours of talks in Zambia early Tuesday without an agreement on how to revive the crumbling Congo peace accord.

Afterward, southern African leaders threatened sanctions against the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"We have not been able to achieve what we hoped to achieve," King Mswati III of Swaziland told reporters after the talks.

MESSAGE BOARD Congo peace

Congolese President Laurent Kabila and his two key military allies, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Namibian leader Sam Nujoma, left Lusaka early Tuesday, leaving chief mediator President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia to close the gathering.

Chiluba said Kabila rejected calls for Kabila to accept former Botswana President Sir Ketumile Masire as "facilitator" for an internal political dialogue between the Congolese leader and rebels fighting to oust him.

Pressure on Kabila to accept terms

In a communique issued at the end of the talks, Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders said they had told Kabila what was required of him regarding the deployment of U.N. troops and an all-inclusive national dialogue to shape the Central African country's political destiny.

"In this connection, the summit, with the exception of the Democratic Republic of Congo government, reaffirmed its full support for the facilitator Ketumile Masire," the communique said. "In light of this, an appeal was made to the DRC government to reconsider its decision."

The United Nations has proposed deploying a monitoring force of 5,537 observers and troops to oversee the faltering peace accord.

The Security Council mandate for the force is up for renewal at the end of this month and is likely to be suspended if Kabila does not guarantee security conditions and freedom of movement for U.N. personnel, leading to fears of a sharp escalation in fighting.

But Chiluba said Tuesday he was confident the mandate will be renewed after the summit identified several "misunderstandings" and "problems of communication" between Kabila and U.N. officials that had led him to impose restrictions on them, delaying deployment.

Kabila was now expected to comply with U.N. conditions, Chiluba said.

"The Congo wants (U.N.) troops in the country, I have no doubt about that," he said.

'Prepare ... for hostilities'

Analysts warned that Kabila's refusal to play ball could prolong conflict in his country, or even doom it to partition.

"We can now prepare ourselves for an escalation of hostilities in the Congo," said political analyst Herman Hannekom.

Hannekom, who served as Pretoria's ambassador to the Congo, warned that partition "is now becoming more and more of a reality even though this would be internationally unacceptable."

Chiluba said sanctions would be considered if Kabila did not fall into line with other SADC members.

"For now, it is not foreseen that there would be need for sanctions, but if that time or if that occasion arises, then that can be considered in the light of the action the Congolese government will take," Chiluba told a news conference.

"For now, it is sufficient that the summit has sent signals and spoken to him (Kabila) in a very firm way, that he considers restoring or bringing back the facilitation being provided by Sir Ketumile Masire," Chiluba added.

Kabila: Masire is biased

Analysts said with Kabila enjoying the backing of three powerful SADC allies -- Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe -- the sanctions threat was unrealistic.

"Money and personal relationships (within the alliance) are keeping Kabila going and keeping the alliance together," said Richard Cornwell of the South Africa Institute for Security Studies.

Mugabe earlier said Kabila had refused to discuss his rejection of Masire as facilitator, while Zambian government officials said Kabila also had not moved an inch on U.N. troop deployment.

Kabila accuses Masire of being biased, and says U.N. peacekeepers cannot deploy until Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda -- which back rebel groups -- withdraw their troops from his country as demanded by a June U.N. Security Council Resolution.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

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Permanent Mission of the Democratic Republic of The Congo to the U.N.
All North America Conference on the Congo (ANACCO)
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Amnesty International Report: Killing Human Decency in Congo

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