Congo rebels urge Belgium to be neutral on Congo

GOMA, Congo (Reuters) -- The main rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo has urged Belgium not to take sides in the country's civil war by backing the government of Congolese President Joseph Kabila.

MESSAGE BOARD Strife in the Congo

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt on Saturday pledged money to help reconstruct the Congo while visiting the capital Kinshasa in a visit seen as a major step towards ending the vast country's isolation.

But the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), which controls vast swathes of eastern Congo, said it would use a meeting with Verhofstadt on Sunday to urge Belgium to also help rebel-controlled areas.

"What we need from Belgium is for them to support all Congolese people," RCD Secretary-General Azarias Ruberwa told Reuters before leaving his headquarters in Goma for the meeting in the northeastern city of Kisangani.

"We will request Belgium to be neutral, impartial, and to consider on an equal footing all the Congolese people," he said.

Verhofstadt, who attended ceremonies in Kinshasa on Saturday marking the Democratic Republic of Congo's 41st independence anniversary, flew to rebel-held Kisangani on Sunday.

Ruberwa said the RCD and other opposition groups were suspicious of Verhofstadt's announcement in Kinshasa that Belgium would provide 788 million Belgian francs ($16.5 million) of aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"Belgium should not provide structural support to Congo. It should only intervene in the humanitarian area," Ruberwa said.

The RCD leadership and the visiting Congolese opposition leaders issued a joint declaration at independence day celebrations on Saturday backing a 1999 Lusaka peace deal which provides for the withdrawal of foreign forces from the Congo.

Rwanda, backed by Uganda and Burundi, invaded Congo in 1998 to support rebels fighting to overthrow former Congolese President Laurent Kabila. The conflict broadened into a regional war as Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia joined Kabila's side.

Hopes for ending the war have risen since Joseph Kabila took over as president from his murdered father in January and allowed the deployment of U.N. peace monitors.

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