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Africa Subsaharan
DR Congo's M23 Rebels Arrive for Peace Talks
2013-01-05
[An Nahar] The Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo or Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principal industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
's M23 rebels arrived in the Ugandan capital Friday to resume peace talks with the Congolese government, officials said.

"The delegation has now arrived in Kampala," said M23 delegation front man Bertrand Bisimwa. "We are ready and are waiting for the program for the negotiation from the mediator."

A Congolese government delegation had already arrived in Uganda, although there was no clear indication of when talks would resume.

The rebels, army mutineers largely from the ethnic Tutsi community, staged a lightning advance in November through DR Congo's mineral-rich and chronically unstable east, raising fears of a widespread conflict and humanitarian emergency.

Although they were persuaded to withdraw from the key eastern city of Goma after a 12-day occupation, they still control large stretches of territory.

Almost two weeks of talks in December ended without even an agreement on the agenda for the negotiations, with the rebels issuing a raft of demands, including a call for major political reform for the war-weary region.

Uganda is hosting the talks, despite accusations that it -- alongside Rwanda -- have backed the fighters, claims that both countries have strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
Ugandan defense ministry front man Paddy Ankunda confirmed the government delegation had arrived, and said it was possible talks could start on Saturday.
Posted by:Fred

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