Congolese Rebel Leader Agrees to Enter Peace Talks

Laurent Nkunda, the rebel leader at the centre of the current violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expressed a willingness to engage in a UN mediated peace process with President Joseph Kabila’s government, UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo has said. Obasanjo spoke after a meeting with Nkunda at his home village in North Kivu, days after holding discussions with Kabila in his effort to prevent the conflict from reaching the proportions of the 1998-2003 Congolese war that sucked in six other African countries. UN peacekeepers have however reported continued sporadic clashes between Nkunda’s Tutsi rebels and the Congolese army in the wider region around North Kivu’s provincial capital. Meanwhile, President Kabila has fired his military chief of staff following a series of defeats by the rebels, appointing Navy chief General Didier Etumba to replace General Dieudonne Kayembe. [PE]