LISBON, Feb 3 (Reuter) - A Dutch minister said on Monday the Zairean army and rebels appeared unwilling to open peace talks and prospects for getting more aid to 200,000 refugees in eastern Zaire were bleak. "I have always been in favour of a multinational force (to guarantee aid for refugees), but you cannot continue to ask for something that seems to be politically dead," Development Cooperation Minister Jan Pronk said during a trip to Lisbon. "The other creative solution is to bring parties to negotiations," he told reporters. "None of them seems to be willing because both are aiming at a military victory or a strengthening of their own military position before a political discussion can take place," he said. Pronk said some 200,000 refugees had been caught by fighting between rebels and the Zaire army since October. The main hurdle to the distribution of aid to the refugees was the lack of security guarantees in the absence of a multinational force, he said. The United Nations abandoned the idea of the f

orce after most of some 1.1 million Rwandan Hutu refugees in Zaire camps returned to their homeland following rebel victories last year. Renewed warfare between the rebels and a Zaire army now backed by hundreds of European mercenaries has againturned the focus on the plight of refugees in eastern Zaire. Apart from the need to ensure the safety of aid workers, Pronk said refugees had to be protected from their own militia. Asked about prospects for improving aid distribution to the refugees in the short term, he said: "I am pessimistic." He said political dialogue for a peaceful solution was now essential as a multinational force was no longer on the cards. "It is extremely important that the European Union (EU), undivided, and the United Nations Security Council join hands in putting a lot of pressure (for dialogue) on the political forces concerned, both in Kinshasa and on the rebels," he said. "You need political will both in Kinshasa as well as among rebels and among forces outside Zaire to accept the no

tion of dialogue, let alone negotiations," he added, after meeting Portuguese Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Jose Lamego. Pronk was visiting Lisbon to discuss the aims of the Dutch presidency of the EU and international development issues with Portuguese officials.