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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: International monitors decry delay in set-up of transitional institutions

KINSHASA, 6 June 2003 (IRIN) - A team of international observers of the transitional process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has criticised delays in the establishment of a government of national unity and recommended that the process be put back on track.

In a statement issued on Thursday in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, the International Committee to Accompany the Transition (known by its French acronym, CIAT) said such delays harmed the peace process. CIAT comprises foreign ambassadors accredited to the DRC, meeting under the presidency of Amos Namanga Ngongi, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative to the DRC.

"CIAT feels that delay in the implementation of the transition is totally unhelpful to the process, and serves only to jeopardise the progress made to date," the group said in the statement issued after a meeting held at the headquarters of the UN Mission in the DRC.

The CIAT members made recommendations to speed the inauguration of transitional institutions, including the exchange among belligerent parties of officers and observers as a confidence-building measure.

"Such a measure would serve to prevent the launching of future senseless military offensives in a climate of reconciliation and unification of territory," the statement said.

CIAT also called for greater cooperation among parties with regard to the formation of a unified national army. CIAT was to discuss these recommendations with belligerent parties late Thursday.

The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) rebel movement, which rejoined discussions of the follow-up committee of the inter-Congolese dialogue on 30 May, had withdrawn from talks on 22 May, causing the postponement of the inauguration of the transitional government originally scheduled to take place on 29 May. RCD-Goma had 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.

In its communique, CIAT called on all parties to fix and fully adhere to a new schedule for the installation of transitional government institutions immediately.

On Wednesday, MONUC announced that Annan had appointed two special envoys to help with the formation of a unified national army: Moustapha Niasse, who had served as Annan's special envoy for the DRC peace process, and Gen Maurice Baril of Canada, who had served as a military advisor to the UN.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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