The Kinshasa press on Tuesday, 14 March 2006 broaches various topics.

Initially expected to come on Monday, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)'s decision on whether it would continue participation in or withdraw from the political transition process has been delayed until Thursday. "The Founder's Council [of the RCD] indicates that because of the gravity of the situation, they will continue their meetings until Thursday, 16 March 2006, when they expect to announce important decisions," L'Observateur reports. The RCD, which considers "discriminatory the fact that there is no degree declaring valid the administrative entities it created [during the war], maintains the suspense," L'Observateur comments.

In the political parties, meanwhile, the process of nominating their candidates for the presidential election continues. Thus, while "Lunda Bululu is the presidential candidate of the Rally of Social and Federalist Forces," according to Le Phare, "Vice President Arthur Z'ahidi N'goma is selected to be the presidential candidate" of the Renaissance du Regroupement politique, according to Le Potentiel.

Le Potentiel announces that Joseph Kabila "will stand as an independent candidate despite the fact that the Parti du people pour la reconstruction et la démocratie (PPRD) wants him to run under its banner." Le Potentiel explains that Joseph Kabila "wants to be the candidate of the whole Congolese people." The leader of the UDPS party, Etienne Tshisekedi, is expected "to announce today [Tuesday] his bid for the [DRC] presidency," according to Le Palmarès.

Meanwhile, four days after the promulgation of the electoral law, "presidential candidates are already flocking to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)'s Kinshasa liaison office," La Tempête des Tropiques notes. "The IEC's legal service responsible for registration of candidatures reports that forty-five people, including six women, have already received the required candidate forms," La Tempête des Tropiques says. But "up to yesterday, 13 March 2006, no single candidacy had been filed with the IEC," Le Potentiel adds. The reason for this could be that potential candidates are busy "checking out their eligibility as candidates, making the required money deposits with the different banks, or simply completing their documentations," according to Le Potentiel.

Meanwhile, as reported by L'Avenir, "the offices of the two chambers [of Parliament] met" yesterday, following receipt of the head of State's letter informing Parliament about the Supreme Court's ruling that all lawmakers who have separated from their original components should vacate their seats. L'Avenir quotes the two offices as saying that "the burden normally falls upon the two chambers gathering in a plenary session to decide to validate or invalidate a parliamentarian's mandate." For this reason, according to Le Potentiel, the two offices decided "to write to the head of State requesting him to convene an extraordinary session [of Parliament] to consider the Supreme Court's decision."

In another connection, "all war criminals in the DRC will be prosecuted and punished," warns L'Observateur, citing Aldo Ajello, the European Union's special envoy in Africa's Great Lakes region. "All criminals, even those who might be holding top posts in [government] institutions, will be brought to justice. There will be no permanent impunity," L'Observateur further quotes Mr Ajello as saying.

"The UDPS is planning a demonstration for 22 March 2006", on the occasion of the United Nations Secretary-General's visit to the DRC, Le Phare announces. The party of Etienne Tshisekedi would like "to take advantage of Kofi Annan's presence to give to him personally the memo that [the UDPS] would have sent him through his representatives on Friday, 10 March 2006, hadn't this been prevented by the brutality with which [the party's] demonstration was suppressed," Le Phare explains. Before the demonstration of 22 March 2006, "[t]he UDPS proposes sending its militants to the airport for the ceremonial welcoming" of Kofi Annan, Le Phare adds.