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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Stalemate persists over sharing of military posts

KINSHASA, 27 June 2003 (IRIN) - Rival armed opposition movements in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remained deadlocked on Friday in their negotiations with the government over the sharing of military positions in envisaged new national armed forces.

Sources at the meeting told IRIN that the government had insisted that it should have the post of the armed forces chief of staff, which the International Committee to Accompany the Transition, known by its French acronym CIAT, had suggested should go the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD-Goma) movement.

Under a proposal made by the committee, whose members comprise ambassadors accredited to the country, RCD-Goma was to nominate the armed forces chief of staff while the government was to provide the second in command. The government was also to nominate the commanders of the land and air forces and the Mouvement pour la liberation du congo was to provide the navy and logistics commanders.

Following more than four years of war, Congolese parties reached a power-sharing agreement in April that called for the formation of a unified national army.

The impasse in deciding the military posts threatens to delay the inauguration of the transitional government, scheduled for 30 June, that should rule the country for the next two years ahead of free and fair general elections.

Faced with the stalemate, the Follow-up Committee of the inter-Congolese dialogue has decided to present the problem for resolution to the UN Secretary-General's special envoy to help with the formation of a unified national army, Moustapha Niasse, who arrived in the capital, Kinshasa, on Thursday.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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