A delegation of African traditional leaders is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) on a mission to help end the conflict in the east of the central African country.
Jean Gervais Tchiffizie, the permanent secretary general of the Council of Kings, Traditional Chiefs, Princes, Sultans and Sheikhs in Africa, announced the good-offices mission in Kinshasa, where he held a meeting with Interior Minister Celestin Mbuyu Kabango.
Tchiffizie, the traditional king of Cote d'Ivoire, said the delegation will also go to Goma, the capital of the troubled North Kivu province, to meet with local traditional leaders and children suffering the consequences of the rebellion.
To add to the momentum for peace, traditional leaders will hold a forum in Kinshasa in the near future to discuss the crisis in DR Cong, Tchiffizie said.
He voiced solidarity with the Congolese people afflicted by clashes in the east of the country, where 502,000 people have been displaced since late August, including 252, 823 in North Kivu.
The delegation had previously met with President Joseph Kabila and Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito.
Africa's traditional leaders came to mediate the conflict as the government of DR Congo was holding talks with the rebel National Congress in Defense of the People (CNDP) in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
On Thursday, UN special envoy Olusegun Obasanjo who chaired the talks announced headway in the talks despite differences. The rival sides have agreed to continue their discussions late this month to find a solution, according to the formal Nigerian president.
A high-level delegation was also dispatched in the day by Obasanjo and Benjamin Mkapa, former Tanzanian president representing the African Union, to meet the CNDP leader Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu in efforts to iron out differences. The delegation had reported positive responses.
The lack of decision-making power was reported on the side of the CNDP as Nkunda is absent from the Nairobi talks.