A Congolese presidential delegation expected to visit South Africa for talks with former rebels on Saturday has cancelled the trip, a senior government official said. Bene M'Poko, Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) ambassador to Pretoria, said a visit to discuss Congo's peace process was not necessary because South African President Thabo Mbeki would go to Kinshasa "with a big delegation" later this month. "There are no talks in Pretoria. There is no need. Because President Mbeki will visit our country with a big delegation later this month, any talks on peace developments will take place during that time," M'Poko told Reuters. "We wanted to avoid a situation of too much travelling between Kinshasa and Pretoria," he said. RCD-Goma, the former Rwandan-backed rebel group which had been due to take part in the talks with the presidential team, accused Congo's President Joseph Kabila of bad faith. "This just confirms his bad faith. Kabila never wanted the meeting, he was forced to accept it, but then he found a pretext for not going to it," said RCD-Goma spokesman Lola Kisanga. --more 2328 Local Time 2028 GMT
