Stage set for Congo peace talks

UN officials will help to broker the negotiations

By Hilary Andersson BBC correspondent in Johannesburg

Congolese peace talks are due to start in Pretoria in South Africa on Saturday.

The Congolese Government and the two main rebel groups are expected to attend.

Fighters from Rwanda and other nations have made the situation in Congo complicated

The talks are aimed at setting up a power-sharing government and bringing the long-running war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to an end.

These are crucial talks, aimed at consolidating long-running attempts to end the Congolese war - a war that has sucked in at least six African nations and affected an entire portion of the continent.

The talks will be hosted by the South Africans and the United Nations.

It is expected that the Congolese Government and the two main rebels groups - the Congolese Rally for Democracy and the Congolese Liberation Movement - will attend.

After the initial days, a host of smaller rebel factions and opposition groups will also be involved.

Power-sharing plans

A proposal appears to be on the table to share power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Under the terms of the proposal, the current President, Joseph Kabila, would stay on as leader for an interim period, and vice-presidential posts would be shared among rebel and opposition leaders.

This kind of agreement is only possible now that the foreign nations with troops inside the Congo have agreed to withdraw.

Without wider African involvement, the war there will lose much of its impetus.

But there has been inter-factional fighting in the east of the country recently.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is vast and politically complex: more than one third of the country, and perhaps more, is run by rebels and, in many areas, governance barely exists.