• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: RCD-Goma rejoins follow-up committee negotiations

KINSHASA , 30 May 2003 (IRIN) - The Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) rebel movement announced on Friday that it would rejoin negotiations leading to the formation of national transitional institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Its withdrawal from talks on 22 May caused the postponement of the inauguration of the transitional government originally scheduled to take place on Thursday.

RCD-Goma withdrew from discussions of the follow-up committee of the inter-Congolese dialogue, the negotiation process that concluded with a power-sharing accord being reached in April, after it accused the government of trying to keep the post of head of army for itself, and of wanting to control the majority of military regions.

"We have lifted the suspension of our participation in the work of the national follow-up committee of the inter-Congolese dialogue," Jean-Pierre Lola-Kisanga, RCD-Goma spokesman, told IRIN. "However, this comes with a final warning: if ever the [Kinshasa] government resumes taking extreme and inflexible positions on the two matters for which we withdrew from the talks, there will be consequences."

For his part, DRC government spokesman Kikaya Bin Karubi called the RCD's actions "capricious".

"The RCD acts as if this is not a matter of the utmost urgency, as if there have not already been more than four million deaths," he said. "We must move quickly toward the installment of a transitional government that will give, in two years, the population the opportunity to choose their leaders."

All parties to the conflict in the DRC signed a peace agreement on 2 April in Sun City, South Africa, designed to end more than four years of fighting. The agreement allowed for a two-year transitional period, after which elections would be held.

Under the power-sharing accord, the transitional national government would be headed by current DRC President Joseph Kabila, with four vice-presidents selected from the two primary rebel movements - RCD-Goma and the Mouvement de liberation du Congo - as well as from the unarmed political opposition and from Kabila's present government.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

The material contained on this Web site comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post any item on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All graphics and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the express permission of the original owner. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003