On
Congo, Rice
Tells ICP
Solution
Should Involve
Rebels,
Without
Conditions
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 10 --
With the M23
mutineers
entrenched
around
Rutshuru in
Eastern Congo
and Congolese
President
Joseph Kabila
refusing to
hold talks
with them, the
UN Security
Council met on
the topic on
Wednesday
afternoon.
Inner
City Press
asked US
Ambassador
Susan Rice,
after an hour
and twenty
minutes of the
meeting, is
the US thinks
President
Kabila should
speak with
M23, or only
with his
Rwandan
counterpart
Paul Kagame.
Rice
told Inner
City Press,
exclusively as
it happened,
that the
solution
should be
"regional,"
with the
"governments
and rebel
groups." She
added, "I
don't think
there should
be conditions
on what it
takes to
resolve it."
The
briefing,
sources told
Inner City
Press, was
requested by
France, which
has a
troubling
history in
Rwanda and the
Congo.
Nevertheless,
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud
left before
Rice, an hour
and 50 minutes
before he was
scheduled to
speak at
Colombia
University --
about Syria.
On the Kivus,
France said
only that
there should
be a dialogue
between
Kinshasa and
Kigala -- with
no mention of
the rebels of
the M23 and
the issues
they have
raised.
An
interested
non-Council
diplomat told
Inner City
Press, "They
are going for
a PRST" or
Presidential
Statement,
since the most
recent
regional talks
about the
Congo went so
badly.
There was
speculation if
this might
impact
Rwanda's
candidacy for
a Security
Council seat
for 2013-14,
with the
election to be
held later
this month.
"So
far it's still
a clean
slate," the
source
observed,
wondering if
another
African
country might
emerge to
challenge
Rwanda. To us,
this seems
unlikely.
Watch this
site.
, 
