by Saeed Shabazz
Staff Writer

NEW YORK�Central African heads of state addressed the UN Security Council Jan. 24, demanding that the world body send peacekeepers to shore up a faltering cease-fire pact in the Congo.

At the end of negotiations two days later, Richard Holbrooke, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and the Security Council president for January, announced a resolution expressing Security Council support for the Lusaka peace accords and help to end fighting between the Congo and neighboring states.

The Security Council reaffirmed a resolution on Jan. 26 which called for all foreign forces to withdraw from the Congo.

"I am greatly encouraged by what I�ve heard from the United States government this week," said Laurent Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a statement issued by his embassy. "There appears to be a fundamental shift in the U.S. view of the situation in the Congo," he said.

Ambassador Holbrooke also headed for Washington, to convince Congress to help pay for deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force. The U.S. government has pledged $1 million for the effort, money observers say is needed for the UN effort. Japan has pledged $500,000 toward the peace effort.

The Lusaka Accords call for integrating rebels into the national army and holding talks about the country�s future government. The Congo, formerly known as Zaire, and five nearby states signed the Lusaka cease-fire agreement in July 1999, in the Zambian capitol. Congo�s fractured rebel leadership has yet to sign the pact, and fighting has continued, destabilizing Central Africa and driving one million people from their homes.

The war in the Congo erupted in 1998 when mutinous soldiers backed by Rwanda and Uganda took up arms, accusing President Laurent Kabila of corruption, nepotism and failure to chart a clear political program. Troops from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe entered the war to bolster President Kabila�s government. The presidents from all six countries attended the recent UN meeting.

In opening remarks, Madeline K. Albright, U.S. Secretary of State, said the continent could not hope to meet the aspirations of its people until "Africa�s First World War" was history.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan thanked Secretary of State Albright and Ambassador Holbrooke for convening the meeting.

As talks aimed at finding compromise went on, fighting was reported 500 miles northeast of the Congo capital, Kinshasa.

President Kabila welcomed Security Council involvement in the dispute. "I am a man of peace and my people want peace. Today I am prepared to offer a hand of reconciliation to all parties, without prejudice," he said. But Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, "my former allies who are now invading my country," must pull out immediately for any cease-fire to work, President Kabila declared. He accused them of forced recruitment of exiled ethnic Hutus and plundering of diamonds, cobalt, gold and zebras in Congo territory.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who supports Mr. Kabila with troops, told the Security Council proper consultation in Africa could have avoided war, and chided the council for being "slow and hesitant" to support the regional peace plan.

Reaction among N.Y. activists was cautious. Elombe Brath, of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, while waiting for an audience with President Kabila, said, when the conflict started two-years-ago the U.S. government predicted Mr. Kabila�s early defeat.

"Kabila knows full well that the United States has been working against him," he said.

Blacks in America must be concerned about the struggle in the Congo because it is the richest country in the world, said Mr. Brath. "We must understand also the Congo�s strategic position because its borders are contiguous with the borders of nine other countries," he added.

"The United Nations will only take action that is in the interest of Africa when there is greater unity among all Africans," said Min. Benjamin Muhammad, East Coast regional representative of the Nation of Islam who is located in Harlem. Min. Muhammad is former board president of the Washington Office On Africa, in Washington, D.C., a coalition devoted to international policy on Africa. Minister Muhammad has also spent time in Angola.

"The call for a United States of Africa is a real call that must be realized," Minister Muhammad said. "As a new century begins, we need not contemplate repeating the imperialism and exploitation and suffering of the 20th century."

When the United Nations will actually deploy some 500 military observers and the 3,400 to 5,000 troops to the Congo is up in the air.