Inter-Congolese Dialogue Venue to Be Moved to S. AfricaFormer Botswana president Ketumile Masire, who is also the international facilitator of the Congolese peace process, announced here Sunday that the next meeting of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue will be moved to South Africa."I decided, with the agreement of all the concerned parties, to hold the next meeting of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in South Africa at a date which will be decided and communicated to the parties in good time," Masire said. However, he couldn't give the exact date when the suspended dialogue will be resumed, only saying that he will consult with all concerned parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the South African government. According to the facilitator, the dialogue has started effectively with the aim of creating an atmosphere of open discussion favorable to a settlement of the DRC war, within the spirit of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement signed in July 1999. "I would like to inform you that I am satisfied with progress we have achieved and the modest level of consensus that we have built," he said. Masire also noted that "there had been fundamental questions about the nature and competence of this meeting, there had been serious consultations about the agenda, rules of procedure and outstanding issues concerning the representation of different groups of Congolese society". He recognized that "we have not been able to bring all the delegates here to give it the all-inclusive character which we all desire" because before October 15 "we had not put together the necessary technical and financial resources". The Inter-Congolese Dialogue, which was officially opened here Monday with a reduced participation of about 80 delegates due to the shortage of fund, had to be suspended because of the leave of the DRC government delegation on Friday night after accusing the dialogue of not being inclusive. "I have decided to adjourn this session until our next meeting in South Africa," Masire said. He explained that the decision was made to take into account the principles of consensus and inclusiveness of all the components of the dialogue. |
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