UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
5 Mar
2009
Press Review
A lot of ink continues to be spilled over the long awaited putting-in-place of the territorial administration in the local press. In addition to this, today's local papers raise the killing and harassment of the civilian population in Eastern DRC.
Sharing in the territorial administration: total confusion! writes LE PALMARES on its front page. « The distribution of the quotas based on the number of provinces to be run by each component did not give rise to any unrest (') But, alas, there are now brewing protests against the share of the provinces among the components, since the agreement is far from being reached by all the parties», indicates the journal. Among the elements of contention: it does not fall within the competence of the Minister of Interior, Théophile Mbemba, to decide alone on a highly sensitive issue; the basic debate on the sharing, per se, with some MPs from whichever province who are opposed to the presence of whichever party will assume control; and the electoral ambitions of the different components. The paper expresses its fear for the threat weighing on the electoral process, with regard to the future role of the territorial administration for a successful vote and the current « pointless discussions». LE PALMARES calls upon the International Committee for the Support of the Transition (CIAT) to pressure the Government « to stop the comedy ».
According to LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, the RCD is refusing to hand over South Kivu to the Civil Society. It is not up to the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) to appoint a governor for South Kivu, underlines the paper. « All the components can run South Kivu, even the Maï-Maï of all categories taken together, except for the poor Civil Society» whom the RCD allegedly blames, says the paper, for « creating confusions in the Eastern DRC since the end of the war».
The Political Opposition is dragging its feet, says L'AVENIR, explaining that the component has refused the province of Maniema. « Is it because the province is too small or simply because it is one of the so-called useless parts of the DRC' », wonders the paper, claiming to know the real motivation behind the battle for the sharing: « they are battling for juicy posts ». The stakes are varied and sometimes to the detriment of the DRC and the Congolese themselves, says the paper.
The imminent putting-in-place of the territorial administration came as a surprise to some of the Congolese who are opposed « to the way the transitional process is run by Kinshasa », indicates LE PHARE, quoting General Laurent Nkunda of RCD/Goma and the residents of the province and the diaspora who have formed « a front of the opponent» and « hold meetings regularly to refine their strategies ». Without explaining the famous « Kivu project ' » that « is in the limelight of several circles in Goma ». The paper highlights that the group held a meeting in a hurry Tuesday in the administrative town of North Kivu upon the announcement of the imminent nominations in the territorial administration. « Laurent Nkunda and his group were forced to accept the irreversibility of the process», writes the paper. Their plan having been foiled, « we should now fear the headlong rush and reactions deriving from despair», highlights LE PHARE concluding: « It is something worth watching ».
The headlines in LE POTENTIEL read: The nomination of the new proxies poses problems, « 1+4 » seems to have prevailed, highlights the paper. « It is as if the main criteria retained for these nominations was the capacity to win for one's constituent, the dividends to be earmarked for the funding of the future electoral campaigns », writes the paper, adding that the problem lies more particularly in the mixed economy firms where the majority of the shareholders refuse government's diktat which, by vote-catching or because of electioneering strategists, could change the administrators and heads of the boards of administration of firms without the prior green light of one's partners.
« DRC: killing in Lukweti» (north-east of Goma), The UN will be dispatching its investigators, announces L'OBSERVATEUR on its front page, quoting the MONUC spokesman in Goma. The investigators will « check the mass graves found near the site of the presumed massacre and possibly establish responsibility», writes the paper. FORUM DES AS mentions: approximately 26 people killed in Lubudi district, quoting the witness accounts from the natives of the village and the North Kivu Civil Society. According to their accounts, «the killing could have been perpetrated by the armed groups used to spreading terror and killing in that part of the DRC whose main objective would be to undermine the All-Inclusive Agreement ».
Echoing the AGENCE CONGOLAISE DE PRESSE, the same paper indicates, in another article, that the Walungu and Bunyakiri territories in South Kivu are in the grips of terror, for being «regularly and repeatedly subjected to attacks along with acts of terror perpetrated by armed elements of the Interahamwe militias and the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) ». « Pregnant women are disembowelled, babies minced and human flesh eaten», adds FORUM DES AS. The paper calls for a « robust intervention from MONUC and the International Community ».
LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, in turn, sounds the alarm: Ituri: Jérôme Kakwaku's militiamen are spreading desolation in Aru. The paper quotes the « Decidi » NGO as denouncing the looting and ransoming of the populations in Aru by militias as a means to earn a living. « The population of Aru') demands an urgent deployment of MONUC troops to their territory before the national police or the Ituri brigade is put in place », reports the paper.
L'OBSERVATEUR and LE POTENTIEL announce the visit of the manager of the World Bank to the DRC, Shengman Zhang, who is to arrive in Kinshasa this Wednesday. He is due to hold talks with the Congolese Head of State and several other Government officials.
According to LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, the RCD is refusing to hand over South Kivu to the Civil Society. It is not up to the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) to appoint a governor for South Kivu, underlines the paper. « All the components can run South Kivu, even the Maï-Maï of all categories taken together, except for the poor Civil Society» whom the RCD allegedly blames, says the paper, for « creating confusions in the Eastern DRC since the end of the war».
The Political Opposition is dragging its feet, says L'AVENIR, explaining that the component has refused the province of Maniema. « Is it because the province is too small or simply because it is one of the so-called useless parts of the DRC' », wonders the paper, claiming to know the real motivation behind the battle for the sharing: « they are battling for juicy posts ». The stakes are varied and sometimes to the detriment of the DRC and the Congolese themselves, says the paper.
The imminent putting-in-place of the territorial administration came as a surprise to some of the Congolese who are opposed « to the way the transitional process is run by Kinshasa », indicates LE PHARE, quoting General Laurent Nkunda of RCD/Goma and the residents of the province and the diaspora who have formed « a front of the opponent» and « hold meetings regularly to refine their strategies ». Without explaining the famous « Kivu project ' » that « is in the limelight of several circles in Goma ». The paper highlights that the group held a meeting in a hurry Tuesday in the administrative town of North Kivu upon the announcement of the imminent nominations in the territorial administration. « Laurent Nkunda and his group were forced to accept the irreversibility of the process», writes the paper. Their plan having been foiled, « we should now fear the headlong rush and reactions deriving from despair», highlights LE PHARE concluding: « It is something worth watching ».
The headlines in LE POTENTIEL read: The nomination of the new proxies poses problems, « 1+4 » seems to have prevailed, highlights the paper. « It is as if the main criteria retained for these nominations was the capacity to win for one's constituent, the dividends to be earmarked for the funding of the future electoral campaigns », writes the paper, adding that the problem lies more particularly in the mixed economy firms where the majority of the shareholders refuse government's diktat which, by vote-catching or because of electioneering strategists, could change the administrators and heads of the boards of administration of firms without the prior green light of one's partners.
« DRC: killing in Lukweti» (north-east of Goma), The UN will be dispatching its investigators, announces L'OBSERVATEUR on its front page, quoting the MONUC spokesman in Goma. The investigators will « check the mass graves found near the site of the presumed massacre and possibly establish responsibility», writes the paper. FORUM DES AS mentions: approximately 26 people killed in Lubudi district, quoting the witness accounts from the natives of the village and the North Kivu Civil Society. According to their accounts, «the killing could have been perpetrated by the armed groups used to spreading terror and killing in that part of the DRC whose main objective would be to undermine the All-Inclusive Agreement ».
Echoing the AGENCE CONGOLAISE DE PRESSE, the same paper indicates, in another article, that the Walungu and Bunyakiri territories in South Kivu are in the grips of terror, for being «regularly and repeatedly subjected to attacks along with acts of terror perpetrated by armed elements of the Interahamwe militias and the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) ». « Pregnant women are disembowelled, babies minced and human flesh eaten», adds FORUM DES AS. The paper calls for a « robust intervention from MONUC and the International Community ».
LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, in turn, sounds the alarm: Ituri: Jérôme Kakwaku's militiamen are spreading desolation in Aru. The paper quotes the « Decidi » NGO as denouncing the looting and ransoming of the populations in Aru by militias as a means to earn a living. « The population of Aru') demands an urgent deployment of MONUC troops to their territory before the national police or the Ituri brigade is put in place », reports the paper.
L'OBSERVATEUR and LE POTENTIEL announce the visit of the manager of the World Bank to the DRC, Shengman Zhang, who is to arrive in Kinshasa this Wednesday. He is due to hold talks with the Congolese Head of State and several other Government officials.
