Much of Wednesday 27th February's press in Kinshasa continued to focus readers' attention on the situation in North Kivu.

« Exchanges of fire were reported yesterday Tuesday in [the areas of ] Mweto, Kanzenze and Kahanga, north of Masisi, between Laurent Nkunda's CNDP [National Congress for the Defence of the Congolese People] and the PARECO Mai Mai [militia group], » according to Le Potentiel.

Other fire exchanges between the CNDP and Mai Mai fighters of the Cobra Brigade "were also reported in an area southwest of Goma, » Le Potentiel says, and adds that « the Pareco and the Mai Mai Cobra Brigade, accuse Laurent Nkunda's men of having attacked their positions."

But "the spokesman for the CNDP has denied" this, Le Palmarès reports.

Whichever is true, «the Pledge of Commitment [Act of Engagement], which was touted as the crowning achievement of the Goma Conference [on Peace, Security and Development in the provinces of North and South Kivu] and which was welcomed in Washington and Brussels, has sadly gone to pieces," according to La Tempête des Tropiques.

Concurring in that judgment, Le Palmarès writes: We are « back at square one». .

This is more so because « Kinshasa, MONUC, the Goma-based Follow-up Committee [of the Conference on the Kivus] and the CNDP no longer share la same enthusiastic perception and the same understanding that they did at the time of the signing of the Pledge of Commitment, » La Tempête des Tropiques says.

Further, La Tempête des Tropiques notes, « Kinshasa's position on the controversy between the CNDP and MONUC is not quite clear - whether regarding the incident in Kamina or the massacres in North Kivu».

As La Tempête des Tropiques recalls it, Kinshasa has « simply declared that the government will impose peace at all costs ».

But « observers and political analysts wonder what means the RDC may have in the present circumstances for imposing peace after the use of force has proven unsuccessful, » La Tempête des Tropiques writes.

As La Tempête des Tropiques sees it, the incident in Kamina, the recent massacre in North Kivu, the violation of the Pledge of Commitment, and the argument between MONUC and the CNDP can only be « ingredients of a worsening situation, which contribute towards the materialization of a conspiracy to balkanize the DRC».

Meanwhile, in another development, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for the DRC, « Alan Doss, for his part, reaffirms the UN's support for security sector reform in the DRC, » L'Avenir says, referring to the round table on security sector reform that concluded Tuesday.

L'Avenir quotes Mr Doss as saying « the interest shown by the [DRC] government on one hand and the international community on the other hand in the round table on security sector reform demonstrates that this reform is a priority towards maintaining and consolidating peace and security in the country. »