S.African President Meets Acting Rwandan President

South African President Thabo Mbeki held talks with acting Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Pretoria to discuss the situation in the Great Lake Region, Mbeki's office confirmed on Sunday.

Presidential spokeswoman Tasneem Carrim said the meeting lasted for about an hour on Saturday in Pretoria.

"It was a confidential discussion, and I cannot divulge any details," she said.

Government sources were earlier quoted as saying that Mbeki initiated the talks to seek Kagame's support for the peace process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Mbeki reportedly needed such a commitment to be able to reassure DRC President Laurent Kabila that he would not be alone if he adhered to the Lusaka peace accord.

Rwanda has been backing one of the main rebel groups fighting to oust Kabila.

Kagame was at the weekend confirmed as acting president following the resignation of President Pasteur Bizimungu last week.

Kabila is expected to hold talks with Mbeki within the next week or two. He requested the meeting during a visit by Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to the DRC last week. The Lusaka peace accord, signed last year by all the parties involved in the DRC conflict, provided for a ceasefire, a withdrawal of foreign troops, and a series of steps leading to democratic elections.

But clashes between DRC troops and rebel forces have been continuing in the past months.

Kabila last month voiced strong suspicions about South Africa's role in the conflict, and accused the country of selling arms to the African countries supporting the rebels. Dlamani-Zuma last week again denied this allegation in her talks with Kabila in Lubumbashi, DRC, and reiterated that South Africa was acting as an honest peace broker. On her return, she reported that much had been achieved to clear the air between South Africa and the DRC. The upcoming talks between Mbeki and Kabila would continue the progress that had been made, she said.

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