LE POTENTIEL responds to LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES' concern: "The last pay operation of the FARDC troops, notably the integrated brigades went smooth across the whole of the DRC territory." The paper quotes the head of the EUSEC (European Union's Mission to assist the DRC security reform, General Pierre-Michel Joana as declaring, "There was no flaws at all in December pay. With Government Ministry of Defence's resolve, the pay operation will further improve with the support of European experts specialised in the army administrative and financial management," reports the paper. The European Union is determined to make a substantial contribution to the formation of a trustworthy army in DRC, "in which troops will be well paid and on time," said General Joana, quoted by LE POTENTIEL. The money paid to the troops comes from the Government but not the European Union. The EUSEC's role is just to supervise the pay so that it would comply with any modern management of an army and to ensure that the troops receive their wages regularly. General Pierre-Michel Joana introduced the head of the project on the reform of the FARDC administrative and financial chain of pay, the French commissioner Colonel Sido to the DRC Vice-Minister of Defence yesterday. Colonel Sido will set up a work team of technicians specialized in the management of the military pay; 16 members will be based in Kinshasa and 10-12 will work with the Defence Ministry experts.

The same paper announces a forthcoming Security Council meeting on the Great Lakes region. LE POTENTIEL echoes MONUC weekly press conference held in Kinshasa on Wednesday, the first of the year 2006. MONUC Deputy Head of Public Information, Eliana Nabaa announced the visit of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the Great Lakes region, Ibrahima Fall to DRC Wednesday, "to prepare the UN Security Council session on security in the Great Lakes sub-region due to be held on 27 January," reports the paper.

Parliament: The last move towards the elections, says the paper, announcing the opening of an extraordinary session of the Transition's legislative body. "Both Parliament's chambers will review and adopt the draft electoral law on the opening of provisional credits for 2006, the draft law on the code of customs and mandates validation," notes the paper. This session is the one but last before April 2006 ordinary session and "before the organisation of free, democratic, credible and transparent elections, highly expected by the Congolese people," indicates L'OBSERVATEUR.

Senate: A bleak future for the closed and mixed lists, says LE POTENTIEL. A Senate-National Assembly joint commission recently reviewed the draft electoral law. The majority of the Senators apparently "rejected the closed and mixed lists and were rather in favour of the opened lists, in light of the DRC's realities," says the paper. Yet "several women are willing to run for political positions in the 3rd Republic."

L'AVENIR headlines: It makes or breaks in the Parliament. "The mixed and closed lists issue may block the National Assembly; Unlike other components advocating for a preferential vote, RCD (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie) sticks to the closed lists. Debates promise to be stormy. Observers fear that RCD find some pretexts to disrupt the rest of the process," writes the paper. "MPs must transcend their feelings and overcome their differences of views to prioritise the nation's general interest. They must bear in mind that the electoral process must be successful," notes LE POTENTIEL.

Registration: MPs call for a re-opening of registration offices, says LE PHARE. Last Tuesday the majority of the Parliament members "recommended the reopening of registration offices to enable those who did not register to do it," says the paper.

Bush and Verhofstadt consult on the DRC, headlines LE PHARE alluding to the Tuesday meeting in Washington between American President and the Belgian Prime Minister. The paper quotes President Georges Bush as declaring, "I told the Belgian Prime Minister that my government was going to work hand and in hand with the Belgian government to help the Congolese people to bring the DRC electoral process to fruition; Mr. Verhofstadt, for his part, was confident that the first round of the elections will take place on 29 April and the second on 2 June, as planned," says the paper. This leads LE PALMARES to conclude that George W. Bush and Guy Verhofstadt agreed on the IEC electoral calendar!