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SADC to Hold Special Meeting on Congo
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state are to hold a special meeting in Lusaka, Zambia, next week to discuss the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Foreign Affairs Minister of the DRC Abdoulaye Yerodia announced on Monday.
Yerodia, who is now representing President of the DRC Laurent Kabila at the SADC summit meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, told South African Press Association the purpose of the Lusaka meeting, scheduled for August 14, is "to find the means to stop the war".
Asked whether Kabila will be there, he replied: "If he's alive, yes. If he doesn't attend I will attend."
However, Yerodia appeared skeptical that the meeting will achieve much.
He said he had told the SADC leaders that there is one way to stop the war, namely implementing the United Nations Security Council resolution on the conflict.
Yerodia also denied that the DRC has refused to accept the deployment of U.N. peacekeeping troops in the war-torn country.
The DRC has emphasized several times that the U.N. troops should be deployed in the war zones instead in Kinshasa or other towns controlled by the DRC government.
Asked why Kabila did not attend the summit, Yerodia said: "Because he has all the jobs more urgent than to attend this conference. The war, the aggressor is still in our country."
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