By Nevine Khalil PRESIDENT of Democratic Congo Laurent Kabila began a three-day visit to Cairo on Saturday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on the four-month-old civil war between his government and rebel forces. Before leaving Cairo, Congolese Foreign Minister Jean-Charles Okoto Lolakombe described the visit as "very successful." During the visit, the ministers of foreign affairs, planning and tourism of both sides met while the two countries agreed to sign three bilateral agreements on double taxation, the protection of investments and trade. Mubarak had invited Kabila to visit Egypt to continue their talks which began in Paris two weeks ago on the sidelines of the African-French summit. The summit's first day saw sharp exchanges between warring leaders of the Great Lakes region. At the time, Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac told the parties to keep their dispute out of the general sessions. Congolese rebels accuse Kabila, supported by Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and Chad, of corruption and ethnic favouritism. Kabila has refused to negotiate with the rebels, insisting on meeting only with their backers, Rwanda and Uganda. For its part, Cairo has been critical of Kabila's refusal to negotiate with the rebels. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa pointed out that the "problem essentially lies in the fact that Kabila insists that those at war with him are Uganda and Rwanda." He said the two countries vehemently deny they are fighting against him, saying they are only protecting the Tutsi minority in the Congo. Moussa's statement came before he left Cairo to attend a summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which opens today in Burkina Faso to discuss ways of achieving a settlement in the war-divided Congo, in addition to helping end Eritrea's dispute with Ethiopia. Moussa said that the situation in the Congo "remains as critical as at any time before," especially since a summit scheduled for Lusaka aimed at settling the conflict was cancelled, a cease-fire was not reached and foreign troops in the Congo had yet to withdraw. Moussa expressed the hope that the OAU summit would reach a settlement to the conflict by arranging a cease-fire, find ways of monitoring the truce and achieve a pullout of foreign troops. Lolakombe said that Burkina Faso was the "last chance" for the conflict to be resolved peacefully, warning that his government will be forced to continue fighting the rebels if it does not succeed. "If the summit fails, force will speak to enable the legitimate government to restore democracy in the country," he said. He added the Congolese government was willing to negotiate with "all parties," but did not say whether this included rebels led by Ernest Wamba Dia Wamba.
