KINSHASA, July 14 (AFP) - Some 60 representatives of civil society, parties, rebel groups and government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to take part in preparatory talks on reviving political dialogue in the vast country next month, an official said Saturday. 
	
	
 A representative of the facilitator of the talks, Hacen Ould Lebatt, told a media conference here that 38 civil society delegates, representing seven of the DRC's 11 provinces, had already been designated. 
	
	
 The round of consultations ahead of the start of formal negotiations between the various parties -- dubbed the "inter-Congolese dialogue" -- will begin August 20 in the Botswana capital Gaborone, the facilitator of the talks, former Botswana president Ketumile Masire, announced this week. 
	
	
 Masire's team, which has criss-crossed the former Zaire to prepare for the talks, is currently pursuing its mission in the provinces of Bandundu, Bas-Congo, Equateur, and in the capital Kinshasa, Lebatt said. 
	
	
 Masire said this week he was determined to "ensure that people from all corners of the country are allowed to express their views", adding that he wanted to avoid a "superficial" exercise. 
	
	
 The national dialogue is a feature of peace accords signed in 1999 by all warring parties in the former Zaire -- two rebel groups, their backers Rwanda and Uganda, and the Kinshasa government and its allies, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. 
	
	
 Masire was brought back into the DRC peace process in February this year as facilitator for the inter-Congolese dialogue by President Joseph Kabila. 
	
	
 The young president's father Laurent, assassinated in January, had sidelined Masire after accusing him of being biased in favour of the rebels. 
	
	
 Lebatt told the media conference that deep divergences remained concerning the designation of delegates to represent DRC political parties, and those to represent the parties who signed the Lusaka agreement. 
	
	
 "The political players must overcome their divisions by finding a formula for consensus," said Lebatt, who is former foreign and cooperation minister of Mauritania. 
	
	
 The Lusaka accord merely speaks about "political opposition", he said. "One must ask 'opposition to whom and what?'." 
	
	
 Lebatt said the facilitation team expected to draw up a final list of participants by August 6. 
	
	
 The conflict in the former Zaire broke out when rebels backed by Laurent Kabila's erstwhile allies Rwanda and Uganda launched an insurgency in August 1998.