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Congo Rebel Leader Pulls Out of Peace Talks VOA News 19 Feb 2002 17:14 UTC 
A key rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo says his group is pulling out of peace talks planned in South Africa next week, dashing hopes of an agreement to end the war.
The leader of the rebel Congolese Liberation Movement, Jean-Pierre Bemba, told a news conference in Paris Tuesday that unfortunately, the planned peace talks have already failed.
Mr. Bemba says his movement decided not to attend because opposition political groups will not be adequately represented. He says the political groups planning to attend are mainly known allies of the Congolese government.
Mr. Bemba's movement is one of the two main rebel groups in Congo. Talks are scheduled to open at South Africa's Sun City resort on February 25 to plan the political transition in Congo, as called for under a fragile 1999 peace agreement.
Meanwhile, a political opposition party in Congo known as FONUS, says it also will not attend the peace talks. The leader of the party, Joseph Olengankoye, told VOA that FONUS objects to a key staff member for the mediator of the talks, Ketumile Masire, of Botswana.
The Congolese conflict broke out in 1998, when rebels, backed by Uganda and Rwanda, invaded the country. Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe sent troops to support the Congolese government in a multi-sided conflict that has claimed more than one million lives.
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