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afrol News, 5 March - While the inter-Congolese dialogue formally is under way in Sun City, South Africa, fighting reportedly has resumed in the eastern part of Congo Kinshasa (DRC), especially in the province of Katanga around Moliro. The UN Security Council on Sunday expressed its concern. According to UN news reports, the Security Council had heard a briefing by the UN Secretariat on the current situation in the Congo, where it was reported about renewed clashes in the Katanga province around Moliro. The Security Council immediately expressed its concern about the resumed fighting and urged all parties "to stop immediately the hostilities and respect fully their commitment to the ceasefire agreement". In the statement, the Security Council also welcomed the commitment of the Congolese government to undertake a unilateral ceasefire, calling for its immediate implementation and appealed to the other parties "to act in the same manner." The UN Mission in Congo (MONUC) recently deployed 70 military observers from Uruguay to Kindu, in the Congolese eastern Maniema District, under the third phase of the peacekeeping operation. MONUC also has decided to monitor the assumed ceasefire and the promised withdrawal of all parties to their original positions. The resumed fighting comes at a time when the national parties to the conflict are supposed to be engaged in the so-called inter-Congolese dialogue, which formally started last week in Sun City, South Africa. The talks were however stalled already on the first day by the absence of the leader of the Ugandan-backed rebels Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC). The MLC and other groups maintained that several "opposition delegates" were fronts for President Joseph Kabila's government, and not "real" opposition delegates. While the "dialogue" has been resumed, prospects for positive results are still bleak. The Congolese government yesterday condemned the presence of Rwandan and Ugandan delegations in Sun City, blaming them for the forum's deadlock. Congolese Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu said he could not accept the presence of Rwandan and Ugandan officers "freely and blatantly making contact with their protégés." Okitundu recalled that only representatives from the UN, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the European Union and Zambia were to be authorised to be present at the site of the negotiations as observers. Congolese Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi said there was "an army of spies and soldiers" from Rwanda and Uganda at the talks, demanding their expulsion. In a related development, the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has called for greater participation by women in the inter-Congolese dialogue. - Without women's full participation in the Dialogue, peace will neither be inclusive nor sustainable, UNIFEM's Executive Director, Noeleen Heyzer, said in the statement issued over the weekend. She added UNIFEM's support to the call by the Facilitator of the Dialogue, former Batswana President Ketumile Masire, to increase the quota of female representation.
Sources: Based on UN, press reports and afrol archives
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