VIDEO CNN's Catherine Bond reports the latest on the peace efforts (August 4) Windows Media 28K 80K MESSAGE BOARD: Congo Peace?

August 5, 1999
Web posted at: 8:43 p.m. EDT (0043 GMT)

In this story: Sudan struggles with its own war RELATED STORIES, SITES

KIGALI, Rwanda -- Zambian mediators met with Congolese rebel leaders in eastern Congo on Thursday to try to save a fragile peace agreement, one day after a Congolese government bombing raid killed hundreds in two villages.

A delegation headed by Zambian Presidential Affairs Minister Eric Silwamba arrived in the border town of Goma earlier Thursday and then flew to the northeastern city of Kisangani for talks with rebel leaders.

The delegation is trying to resolve a dispute over who controls the main rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), which has not yet endorsed a Zambian-brokered peace agreement signed by Congolese President Laurent Kabila and five neighboring countries.

RCD President Emile Ilunga refused to sign the accord after Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, who Ilunga ousted from leadership in May, insisted on signing on behalf of the rebellion.

At the heart of the split is a division between Rwanda and Uganda on the conduct of the war. Rwanda backs Ilunga, who is based in Goma, while Uganda backs dia Wamba, who shifted his base to the northern city of Kisangani after his ouster.

Complicating the peace efforts, a Sudanese aircraft flying on behalf of the Congolese government bombed two fishing villages on Wednesday, killing more than 500 people, rebel leaders said. Rebels accused Sudan of trying to undermine peace efforts to end the year-long African civil war.

Analysts said Sudan might want to derail the cease-fire to keep neighboring Uganda -- a longtime rival -- from supporting a rebel movement in southern Sudan.

Sudan has denied supporting Kabila's government and did not sign the pact. Rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba accused Sudan on Thursday of acting on Kabila's behalf.

"I consider the cease-fire is broken. It has been broken by Kabila himself while all my troops were on the defensive," said Bemba, a millionaire businessman who heads the Congolese Liberation Movement, one of the two rebel armies.

Bemba said Wednesday's air raid on two fishing villages was the work of a high-altitude Sudanese bomber. The towns, Makanza and Bogbonga, are about 800 kilometers (500 miles) northeast of the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

Sudan, which is fighting its own civil war, has not yet commented on the allegation. The Sudanese government declared a cease-fire in its own battle against rebels in its southern provinces Thursday, an offer the rebel group rejected.

A senior aid official in Nairobi, Kenya, called Sudan's involvement in the Congolese war "a token effort," but added: "Sudan is trying to hit the Ugandans where they can because they are their enemy. The Sudanese government is very happy to have the Ugandans tied up."

Kabila has made at least two trips to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, since the start of the war in August 1998, and even if Sudan has played a smaller role in the fighting.

Uganda supports Bemba's force in northern Congo, where the Sudanese are accused of striking. By keeping alive the Congo war, Sudan would prevent Uganda from helping the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The SPLA has fought a 16-year war against Khartoum for religious freedom and self-determination for south Sudan.

"They feel that they can use Congo to attack us in (the south Sudan province of) Western Equatoria from behind," said Samson Kwaje, spokesman for the SPLA's political wing.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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