Contacts:
Dr. Alafuele M. Kalala
Mr. Rohan Carney
Phone: (202) 463-9373
Fax: (202) 463-9374
Email: cdzcrm@freewwweb.com

The Rally for a New Society (RNS) would like to denounce vehemently the decision made by the Kabila government to close down the Kinshasa office of the Facilitator of the inter-Congolese political negotiations sir Ketumile Masire, former president of Botswana.  Kabila s decision has to be taken very seriously.  It is a part of Mr. Kabila's strategy to drag his feet past the November US presidential elections in  hopes of foiling completely the Lusaka Cease-fire Agreement on the Democratic Republic of Congo which was signed on July 10, 1999:  the crux of the matter is that Mr. Kabila and his cronies are afraid of losing power at the inter-Congolese negotiations which have been provided for in the Lusaka Agreement.

Thus, the RNS calls upon the entire international community, the US Administration in particular, to put all the necessary pressure to bear on the Kabila government and on its allies to bring Mr. Kabila and his cronies to the negotiating table as soon as possible.  We cannot allow Mr. Kabila and his cronies to succeed in their Machiavellian strategy.  This will be very dangerous not only for Congo, but for all of Central Africa and the Great Lakes region.

The RNS calls also on Mr. Kabila and all the reasonable people in his cabinet to rise to the challenge by showing that they care more about the future of the country than their hold on power.  If they do rise to this moral imperative, they would demonstrate that they deserve the trust of the people of the Congo to be a leading force during the post-dialogue transitional period.  Contrary to their deeply-held and unfortunate belief, Lusaka is perhaps their best chance to play a positive and lasting role in the future of the Congo. Their short-sighted survival strategy can but bode ill for the country and for themselves.  Sooner or later it will come to haunt them as Mobutu and his people were finally haunted.

 The RNS would finally like to take this opportunity to emphasize once more the following points:

         1. To support the Lusaka Agreement and to give one's best for its achievement is, as of now, the most responsible thing for the people of Congo and the international community can do. The Lusaka Agreement is the best possible solution to the crisis in Congo, Central Africa and the Great Lakes region of Africa.  However long that may take, there is no other credible way out.
 

         2. The UN/OAU projected presence in the Congo and the inter- congolese  political negotiations are the two most important features of the Lusaka Agreement.  To sabotage the inter-Congolese political negotiations is to sabotage the whole process and doom the country and the region to an uncertain and perilous future.

         3. Ultimately for the Lusaka Agreement to succeed the Congolese political negotiations have to succeed. Their failure will be the failure of the whole process.  The international community needs to support adamantly the Facilitator of the inter-Congolese political negotiations, President Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana.  President Masire is credible and trustworthy.  With the goodwill of all the parties to the Lusaka Agreement and the support of the international community, President Masire will fulfill fully his mandate.

         4.  For the National Dialogue to be truly successful the following must occur:

 (a)       the achievement of a  strong and broad political consensus that will result  in  the formation of a unified army and a government of national unity;
 (b)      the insurance that the legitimate (political, security or other) interests of the warring parties will be safeguarded, at the same as the people of Congo will be fully restored into their indisputable sovereignty;
 (c)      the initiation of  the process of building judicious institutions that will, in the long run sustain, not only the normalization of the political life in the Congo, but peace and stability in all of the Central Africa and the Great Lakes region; and
 (d)      the success in holding free and fair elections that everybody will feel compelled to recognize, so that no one will again feel compelled or be given the pretext to rise up in arms.

         5.  To achieve a strong and broad political consensus, the inter- Congolese political negotiations ought to be really representative of the people of Congo. Every effort has to be made to insure that all the social and political forces of the Congolese society be represented.  This is a one in a lifetime opportunity and no efforts, no resources should be spared to insure its success and the initiation of a new political order in the Congo.

The RNS takes once again this opportunity to call on all the political and social forces of the Congolese society to  initiate, in view of their participation to the inter-Congolese political negotiations, the formation of credible coalitions that will allow them to be fully represented without it necessitating the involvement of an inordinate number of people.  Such coalitions will surely also maximize the impact of their participation in the negotiations.  The RNS also calls on the Congolese society as a whole, particularly on its political class, to show proof of maturity and responsibility.  This is not the time to exclude any one.  This is the time to unite for the future of the country. The forthcoming negotiations will not be about exercising power.  They will be about defining the political future of the country  and devising a process of political normalization through which those who will legitimately receive the mandate from the people will exercise  a level of power commensurate with their electoral influence.  Mr. Kabila and his cabinet should not be afraid of meeting their fellow countrymen: they ought to be able to convince them that they deserve to be entrusted with the leadership of the country.

The people of the Congo and the people of the region need our support, the support of the international community and of all the people of goodwill. We need to do everything, whatever it takes to thwart Mr. Kabila's Machiavellian strategy.  It is our collective responsibility.  To let this succeed will undoubtedly be our collective failure.