CONGO: Peace talks hosted by South Africa aimed at establishing an interim government of national unity in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo finally resumed yesterday. A squabble about representation delayed the first plenary session for nearly 10 days.
Held at a cost to South African taxpayers of R45 million (€4.65 million) at the luxury resort centre of Sun City, the talks were organised in terms of the ceasefire agreement signed in Lusaka in July 1999.
Attended by representatives of President Joseph Kabila's government, the main rebel forces - the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) and the Congolese Rally for Democracy (CRD) - and more than a score of non-armed opposition parties, the talks had hardly begun on February 25th before they were brought to a halt by acrimonious disagreement.
The main focus of discord was the presence of delegates from parties which were designated as opposition parties but which the MLC and CRD suspected were nominees of Mr Kabila's posing as opposition politicians but beholden to him.
The wrangle continued for nine days. Initial attempts by the peace dialogue facilitator, the former Botswana president, Mr Ketumile Masire, to resolve the dispute failed.
In the end, however, agreement was reached when the number of representatives allocated to the Kabila government and to the RCD and the MLC was raised from 55 to 68 to give them the same representation as the combined total allotted to the opposition parties.
Another divisive issue might lead to a further halt in the proceedings, for which 45 days have been set aside: the position of Mr Kabila, who succeeded his father, Laurent Kabila, who was killed by one of his own security guards.
During the informal talks which preceded the first formal plenary session, some delegates, particularly those representing the MLC, contended that one of the tasks facing the inter-Congolese dialogue was to elect a new president.
Wracked by dispute almost since its birth as a modern state in 1960, the strife in the Congo took a particularly dangerous turn in 1998 when rebel forces, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, sought to overthrow Laurent Kabila.
Like his son, Laurent Kabila was never elected to the presidency.
He had himself inaugurated as president without holding elections after leading a successful rebellion against the 32-year dictatorship of Mobuto Sese Seko.