Rebel group to attend national follow-up committee meeting

The rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) said on Monday it would attend the next meeting of the national follow-up committee in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), following assurances that the UN mission to the country, MONUC, would provide security for its delegates. The committee is charged with solving the remaining obstacles to the formation of a transitional power-sharing government in the DRC following the 2 April peace accord signed in Sun City, South Africa. RCD-Goma was the only signatory to the accord that failed to attend the committee’s first meeting on 14 April, in Kinshasa. RCD-Goma leaders who held talks on Monday with the head of MONUC, Amos Namanga Ngongi, in the eastern town of Goma, said they were now satisfied with the security provisions. "Ngongi's proposals have met our concerns," Azarias Ruberwa, the RCD-Goma secretary-general, told IRIN. "Even if MONUC's mandate hasn't changed in the way that we wanted, it is now authorised to organise the security for RCD-GOMA in Kinshasa." Ruberwa also said that MONUC would take charge of transport of RCD-Goma delegates to the meeting venue. A date for the next committee meeting has not yet been announced, but the expectation is that it will be held at the weekend beginning 26 April.