African Diplomacy Observer

As scheduled, President Bush met with the DRC President, Joseph Kabila on October 26, 2007. During that meeting, held in the White House’s Oval Office, Mr. Bush congratulated President Kabila for garnering 58 percent of the suffrage during the last presidential elections, he assessed as having been free and fair.

They also talked about challenges ahead such as the need to consolidate the gains of the ongoing peace process that led to the general elections. Among these challenges remain the economic development of the DRC, the security and stability of the country that involve, among other, the reform of the DRC security sector. In that regard, President Kabila emphasized the need for a continued support by the United States in order to achieve these challenges.

The instability in the Eastern part of the country was also addressed; particularly the need to make sure that the government’s reach extends throughout the entire country and that there is stability throughout the country.

Source: White House’s Office of the Press Secretary

According to the White House, US President is due to welcome Presidents of Liberia and the DRC respectively on October 18 and 26, 2007. With the President of Liberia, Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf, President Bush will address "her nation’s accomplishments nearly two years after Liberia’s historic democratic election". They will also discuss cooperation in the areas of education, reconstruction, trade and investment, security sector reform and debt relief. The US President will finally seize this opportunity to reiterate his country commitment to social, economic, and democratic progress in Liberia.

With th DRC President, Joseph Kabila, President Bush will discuss the successes of the newly elected Kabila Government after last year elections and the remaining challenges to secure Congo. They will also discuss ways to further increase bilateral cooperation on security sector reform and economic reconstruction in Eastern Congo.

Source: White House Office of the Press Secretary’s Releases on the US President Meetings with the Liberia and DRC Presidents.

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and Libyan Foreign Ministry, Abdelrahmane Chalgam, met on September 26, 2007 in New York over the situation in Darfur. At that occasion, the Libyan Foreign Ministry invited Mrs. Rice to attend the peace conference to be hold in Libya on October 27, 2007 between Sudanese government and Darfur rebel factions to try to reach a political agreement on the conflict that is ravaging the Western province of Sudan since 2003. According to a US official commenting on that meeting, it was of a good quality.

John Negroponte, the US Deputy Secretary of State, undertook on 11 April 2007, an eight-day-trip throughout Africa. During this trip, the US Senior officials will visit Sudan, Chad, Libya and Mauritania. In Sudan and Chad, he will certainly address the security and humanitarian situations in the Western Province of Darfur and its regional implications, in the Eastern part of Chad notably as well as ongoing efforts to achieve peace in Sudan through implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and particularly to stabilize the situation through the effective setting up of a hybrid UN-AU mission. In Mauritania, the Deputy Secretary will attend the inauguration of the newly elected president, Mohamed Ould Cheikk Adellahi and meet with some African Leaders who will be present.

The US Deputy Secretary is accompanied by the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, and the Senior Director and Special Assistant to the President for African Affairs at the National Security Council, Bobby Pittman, Jr., and Representatives from the Department of Defense and USAID.

Source: US Department of State