Rebel Leaders Arrive in Kinshasa for Peace Talks

Leaders of Congo’s main rebel faction, RCD-Goma, arrived in Kinshasa on Sunday to discuss implementing a deal to end the country’s civil war. It was the first visit by the group since its forces failed to capture the city over four years ago. All parties to Congo’s four-and-a-half-year war signed up earlier this month to a power-sharing deal aimed at ending the bloody conflict and shepherding the country to democratic elections in two years’ time. Two weeks ago, members of three rebel factions joined officials of President Joseph Kabila’s government, tribal militia fighters, opposition politicians and civic groups to start work on the committee overseeing the deal. But RCD-Goma did not send representatives because it said Kabila had not given them adequate security guarantees. On Sunday, the group’s leaders arrived with three planes carrying thirty RCD bodyguards, food supplies and guns, a government spokesman said. “Today, we are declaring the end of the war,” the rebel movement’s Secretary General Azarias Ruberwa said. “We are carrying a message of peace and reconciliation.” Full Story