EU pulls diplomacy lever on Congo

By Peter Greste
BBC News, Rutshuru

Rutshuru is a pretty, bucolic town not far from the Virunga National Park - a vast expanse of tropical jungle, and one of Africa's greatest wildlife reserves.

EU Commissioner Louis Michel believes General Nkunda (l) will cut a deal

The park also runs along the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern frontier with Rwanda and Uganda, making the town strategically vital.

But it is also where thousands of people are sheltering - just some of the quarter of a million people who have been forced from their homes by the fighting of the past few months.

That is why the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Luis Michel initially decided to come to the region. He has been trying to improve both the quantity of aid from Europe, and the quality of its delivery.

Helicopter flight

But instead of touring Rutshuru hospital and talking to displaced families as he had originally planned, Mr Michel and his delegation found themselves locked in room after room across three countries and four cities in the space of eight hours, until finally they met rebel commander Laurent Nkunda.

See detailed map of the area

The shift from a humanitarian to a diplomatic mission came after talks in Nairobi between General Nkunda's negotiators and a team from the Congolese government stalled on Wednesday.

A frustrated UN envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo accused the rebel CNDP negotiators of over-reach; of trying to discuss national issues like regime change and constitutional amendments, instead of tackling the causes of the crisis in eastern DR Congo.

FORCES AROUND GOMA CNDP: Gen Nkunda's Tutsi rebels - 6,000 fighters FDLR: Rwandan Hutus - 6-7,000 Mai Mai: pro-government militia - 3,500 Monuc: UN peacekeepers - 6,000 in North Kivu, including about 1,000 in Goma (17,000 nationwide) DRC army - 90,000 (nationwide) Source: UN, military experts

In Nairobi, Mr Obasanjo asked Mr Michel to convey that message to the rebel commander personally.

But first, the European envoy stopped in Kigali for talks with European ambassadors.

There, he met senior UN negotiator Alan Doss and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame - the man thought to wield more influence over General Nkunda than any other.

Then, after further talks in Goma with officers from the UN peacekeeping mission Monuc and a helicopter flight to Rutshuru, Mr Michel spoke to the rebel commander.

His base in Rutshuru is an old house - a faded relic of a grand colonial era on a hill with a commanding view over the town.

When I last met General Nkunda in March, he was dressed in a loosely tailored powder-blue suit - a symbol, he said, of his organisation's shift from a military to a political agenda. Not this time.

Instead, he arrived in combat fatigues with a beret and his trade-mark walking cane, topped with a silver eagle's head.

'Willing to compromise'

Before, he seemed relaxed and happy to be in the camera's spotlight at the dairy farm homestead he said was an old family retreat.

Gen Nkunda's rebel base is a colonial-era hilltop retreat

This time, he seemed distracted and pressured, locked in animated discussions with Mr Michel.

At least in the company of his officers General Nkunda seemed to stick to his hard-line: the CNDP is a national liberation movement that must discuss national issues.

But in a private conversation in his car, Mr Michel said the commander seemed far more willing to compromise and be flexible.

Diplomats believe that if Rwanda withdraws its tacit support for the CNDP, it will whither and die.

Until now, the ethnic Tuti-dominated Rwandan administration seems to have been unwilling or unable to isolate their ethnic kin over the border.

But now, the Europeans believe the diplomatic ground has shifted.

Last week, Rwanda and the Congolese government agreed to resume diplomatic relations, and the arctic relations now appear to be thawing.

Mr Michel believes that message is getting through to General Nkunda.

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