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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Inauguration of transitional government again risks delay

KINSHASA, 14 July 2003 (IRIN) - The inauguration of a transitional national government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could again face delay in light of a controversy surrounding one rebel movement's unilateral creation of military zones and demands for security.

Discussions regarding the security of transitional government members by the national follow-up committee to the inter-Congolese dialogue were suspended on Saturday when participants demanded that the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), a Rwandan-backed rebel movement, revoke its decision on Thursday to create three military regions in territory currently under its control.

The move came as RCD leader Azarias Ruberwa announced in Goma on Saturday that his movement's five-year battle against the Kinshasa government had ended, and that it was henceforth a political party.

On Monday, the RCD-Goma delegation, including seven ministers and four vice-ministers, remained the only one to have not yet arrived in Kinshasa to take part in the handover, despite a plane having been dispatched to Goma on Saturday by the UN Mission in the DRC to bring them to the capital. The RCD-Goma delegation refused to board the plane, insisting that its ministers and vice-ministers each be accompanied by 15 bodyguards.

However, despite the impasse, the two principal rebel movements, the RCD-Goma and the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), believe the inauguration of the national transitional government could still take place as foreseen by the calendar decided on 8 July by all parties to the national power-sharing accord.

RCD-Goma said its creation of three military sectors in the territory under their control was an internal matter and should have no effect on installation of the transitional national government.

"We have no hidden agenda as has been alleged by others. We simply wanted to organise ourselves because we can not leave more than 40,000 troops without orders while we are in Kinshasa," Moise Nyarugabo, RCD-Goma representatives to the national follow-up committee to the inter-Congolese dialogue, told IRIN. "The new military chief of staff will be entitled to change things once he has assumed his duties. The Kabila government is simply seeking another scapegoat to blame for blocking the process."

DRC President Joseph Kabila, who also serves as president of the national follow-up committee, said he was waiting for RCD-Goma to rescind its decision before he would convene any future meeting.

Meanwhile, the International Committee for Support to the Transition (ICST) said on Sunday that it condemned RCD-Goma's creation of the military regions, saying it went "against the spirit of the All-Inclusive Agreement of 17th December 2002, as well as the Memorandum on the Army and Security of 29 June 2003".

"Such a move, coming at a critical moment in the DRC peace process, can only serve to hinder the installation of the transitional institutions. The ICST therefore considers the decision taken by the RCD on 10 July 2003 to be null and void," it said in a statement.

The ICST further said it "urged the Congolese parties to set up immediately a working group on the establishment of an integrated neutral police and follow-up the establishment of the bodyguards".

The ICST expressed "its full support to all members of the [national follow-up committee] in their efforts to ensure the installation of the transitional institutions in accordance with the timetable it adopted on 8 July 2003, in order to usher in a period of peace, stability and national reunification so deserved and desired by the Congolese people".

Themes: (IRIN) Governance

[ENDS]

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