Referred to as the three-day war, this week's clashes in Kinshasa between elements of President Joseph Kabila's presidential guard and troops in charge of the security of Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba remain the main topic of newspaper commentary in the DRC capital.

Today, three days following the end of hostilities between Joseph Kabila's and Jean-Pierre Bemba's military followers, "the fear of terror remains palpable" in Kinshasa, according to Le Potentiel. "International partners alone are struggling to bring the belligerents back along the path of reason," notes Le Potentiel, saying that this effort is being made amid "the radio silence on the part the political parties." Indeed, "no political party, no political official, except Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa, has had the courage to make a declaration to condemn [this violence]."

On the other hand, Kinshasa residents have started talking about "the three-day war". "They are demanding that Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba's troops be disarmed prior to the second round" of the presidential elections, according to La Référence Plus. In advocating that these troops should be sent to "camps for military integration [known as brassage process]," La Référence Plus says, regarding the security of two presidential contenders, that "MONUC and EUFOR should assign some units" to that task, thereby meeting the desire of the Kinshasa population.

If not, it would take "many more [troops] than those two forces [MONUC and EUFOR] can provide to overcome the fire that might be ignited," La Référence Plus fears.

Echoing that fear with this front-page headline "the worse is yet to come", Le Phare explains that despite "appeasements offered by MONUC and EUFOR, there is still cause for concern in the Congolese capital".

In Kinshasa, Le Phare states, "the feeling prevailing among analysts and observers is one of a real fiasco being experienced in the transition process guided by the international community". Consequently, the international community should "boldly review its terms of engagement in the DRC," Le Phare says. Noting that what is required of the world community is to be "imaginative, lucid and courageous in the face of the current situation in the DRC," Le Phare concludes that "crime, impunity, rewarding the belligerents will not help establish the rule of law in the DRC."

Along similar lines, L'Avenir writes that "instead of sitting on the fence," the international community should ask itself why "the MLC initiated hostilities [last] Sunday." As long as this question remains unanswered, the paper believes "the proposed Kabila-Bemba meeting, which some wrongly see as a way out [of the crisis], will be a dialogue of the deaf." What some within the international community want, according to L'Avenir, is "a façade democracy in the DRC [based on] their theory that without the current two supposed belligerents in power there will be no peace in Congo."

Meanwhile, Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba appeared in public on Thursday for the first time since the violence hit the capital last Sunday, Le Potentiel reports. But "he made no statement, nor did he hold the press conference as [initially] announced to the national and international press," says the paper, adding that the conference was pushed back to a later date.

Actually, the MLC leader's public appearance was "intended to show he is in good health and to put an end to rumours that he may have gone into exile," says Le Potentiel, citing Adam Bombole Intole, the MLC provincial president.

Meanwhile, President Joseph Kabila met Thursday with the International Committee of the Wise over the recent unrest in Kinshasa, L'Observateur reports. During this meeting, the Congolese head of State "appeared very calm, quiet and very open," says L'Observateur, echoing the words of President Joachim Chissano, the head of the Committee of the Wise.