UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
5 Mar
2009
Press Review
Province-sharing between the different components of the transitional Government became effective last weekend; say some of today's local papers in Kinshasa. They also raise the ''disagreement'' between the International Committee To support the Transition (CIAT) and President Joseph Kabila.
''Province-sharing among the different components is over'', announces L'AVENIR, adding that Government members closed this dossier at the end of a conclave held over the weekend, on board the Lemera presidential ship. The provinces were shared out as follows; 'Kinshasa, Bas - Congo and Western Kasaï provinces are given to the ex-government; The Eastern and North Kivu provinces given to the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)''; As for the rest of the provinces, '' Bandundu province is given to the Movement for the Liberation of (MLC), South Kivu to the political opposition, Equateur province to the Civil Society, Maniema province to RCD-K/ML, Eastern Kasaï province to RCD-N and Katanga to the Maï-Maï'', indicates the paper. ''The Government is now to lay down the general principles for the public firms and diplomacy''.
No official document has been submitted on the new province-sharing as of yet says L'OBSERVATEUR indicating that the announcement will officially be made ''by Tuesday 11 May 2004''. This has led LE PHARE to publish an ''unconfirmed'' version of the territorial administration put in place, pending ''further information''.
However, LA REFERENCE PLUS says that not everybody is satisfied with the sharing. As an example, ''Bandundu has refused to be run by MLC'', the paper says. ''It is opposed and refused to be run by a component that had humiliated and insulted it''. The paper recalls that MLC had called Bandundu a ''poor province''.
Furthermore, LE PHARE foresees some ''threats to the Transition'', following ''Presidency's sharp criticism on the CIAT''. The paper reports that ''CIAT was bitterly criticised by the Presidency on Friday, through its official Spokesman, Mr. Kudura Kasongo'' alluding to president Kabila's recent position that ''the CIAT has no power to issue injunctions against the Government'', just because ''the latter committed the crime of recalling our leadership that they should not take advantage of the Congolese people aspiring for a Rule of Law at the end of the transition and of the International Community running the peace process''. The paper sees some ''cynism'' in the Presidency's attitude, indicating that ''those whose power was comforted with CIAT's complicity are today the first to cast the stone at it'''.
LE PALMARES tries to explain why Joseph Kabila and CIAT are at odds. Two reasons explain the head of state's attitude, says to the paper. ''First the widespread rumours circulating in some Eastern capitals according to which the world leaders have turned their back on Joseph Kabila for the post-transitional period due to his lack of leadership and are now looking for the one person in the million''. Therefore, the paper further says, '' Joseph Kabila is suspecting the CIAT leading figures for having initiated the idea of a Government Coordinator which the Head of State resents''.
It is in this context that FORUM DES AS has published a document through the Internet, disclosing a '' Kagame-Swing complicity''. The document, says the paper without any comment, considers that '' William Swing is in the DRC on the sole account of Langley for whom he works as a special agent''.
''This Monday in Kinshasa, the Ituri warlords will claim a seat within the public institutions'', reports LE PHARE, alluding to the meeting between Kinshasa Government and the chiefs of the Ituri armed militia groups. The paper indicates that a new frame of mind is prevailing within the armed groups which regrouped in a platform named Front pour la pacification et l'Intégration au Congo. The paper highlights that ''this rebel movement born in the middle of the DRC reunification process and the preparation of the elections is a challenge to the transitional players who give the impression of having left them at the road side''.
In the meantime, in Ituri, militiamen attacked a Monuc patrol, reports LE PALMARES adding that that the militiamen are the Lendus of the Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes (FNI) who opened fire on a Monuc routine patrol, last Friday. ''At least ten Lendu militiamen were killed by the Ituri Brigade in the ensuing clashes'', indicates the paper.
No official document has been submitted on the new province-sharing as of yet says L'OBSERVATEUR indicating that the announcement will officially be made ''by Tuesday 11 May 2004''. This has led LE PHARE to publish an ''unconfirmed'' version of the territorial administration put in place, pending ''further information''.
However, LA REFERENCE PLUS says that not everybody is satisfied with the sharing. As an example, ''Bandundu has refused to be run by MLC'', the paper says. ''It is opposed and refused to be run by a component that had humiliated and insulted it''. The paper recalls that MLC had called Bandundu a ''poor province''.
Furthermore, LE PHARE foresees some ''threats to the Transition'', following ''Presidency's sharp criticism on the CIAT''. The paper reports that ''CIAT was bitterly criticised by the Presidency on Friday, through its official Spokesman, Mr. Kudura Kasongo'' alluding to president Kabila's recent position that ''the CIAT has no power to issue injunctions against the Government'', just because ''the latter committed the crime of recalling our leadership that they should not take advantage of the Congolese people aspiring for a Rule of Law at the end of the transition and of the International Community running the peace process''. The paper sees some ''cynism'' in the Presidency's attitude, indicating that ''those whose power was comforted with CIAT's complicity are today the first to cast the stone at it'''.
LE PALMARES tries to explain why Joseph Kabila and CIAT are at odds. Two reasons explain the head of state's attitude, says to the paper. ''First the widespread rumours circulating in some Eastern capitals according to which the world leaders have turned their back on Joseph Kabila for the post-transitional period due to his lack of leadership and are now looking for the one person in the million''. Therefore, the paper further says, '' Joseph Kabila is suspecting the CIAT leading figures for having initiated the idea of a Government Coordinator which the Head of State resents''.
It is in this context that FORUM DES AS has published a document through the Internet, disclosing a '' Kagame-Swing complicity''. The document, says the paper without any comment, considers that '' William Swing is in the DRC on the sole account of Langley for whom he works as a special agent''.
''This Monday in Kinshasa, the Ituri warlords will claim a seat within the public institutions'', reports LE PHARE, alluding to the meeting between Kinshasa Government and the chiefs of the Ituri armed militia groups. The paper indicates that a new frame of mind is prevailing within the armed groups which regrouped in a platform named Front pour la pacification et l'Intégration au Congo. The paper highlights that ''this rebel movement born in the middle of the DRC reunification process and the preparation of the elections is a challenge to the transitional players who give the impression of having left them at the road side''.
In the meantime, in Ituri, militiamen attacked a Monuc patrol, reports LE PALMARES adding that that the militiamen are the Lendus of the Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes (FNI) who opened fire on a Monuc routine patrol, last Friday. ''At least ten Lendu militiamen were killed by the Ituri Brigade in the ensuing clashes'', indicates the paper.
