Review of the electoral law by the Parliament today and electoral calendar are the dominant issues in today's local press. Local papers also comment on the military offensive in
Eastern DRC
and the routing of Ugandan rebels.

"The electoral law will be jointly reviewed by both houses of parliament due to time constraint," writes LE POTENTIEL. MPs and senators must show a sense of responsibility and avoid "using the logic of components and entities." So doing, they will come up with "a legal document, within a reasonable time frame, that will be used as a working document by the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) to organize the elections."

"CEI Faced with very tight Electoral Calendar" says LE PHARE. The calendar provides for inauguration of the new president on 25 June 2006, "which is seen as excessive unrealism to elect a Head of State from the first round due on 9 April 2006," says the paper. "This is too hard to believe in view of the Herculean task ahead before the June 2006 polls, not to mention the absence of the CEI officials on the ground," highlights the paper, citing the flaws in the registration process. LE PHARE says, "Promises are not enough," calling on the Independent Electoral Commission to start working effectively and comply with all the deadlines set, notably: the submission of applications on 7 February 2006; the submission of the electoral lists of candidates on 11 March, the polling ballots on 27 February, the deployment of ballot boxes and polling booths across the 199 territories on 12-30 March. Voters' desiderata must be taken into account and no rush must be allowed just for the sake of pleasing the donors "whose agendas are different from the Congolese people's;" the 11 million voters who did not vote the constitutional referendum on 18 December must also be taken into account. "What are the concerns of the large section of the population that massively boycotted the referendum? What is the lesson to be drawn from the boycott," wonders the paper. "No democracy can be built in DRC without the virtue of dialogue, no matter what the circumstances. Democracy is the antithesis of exclusion," further says LE PHARE, underscoring the importance of the army and police reintegration due before the 2006 polls.

LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES focuses on the military offensive in
North Kivu
and reports: 86 rebels killed and 4 made prisoners, "42 assault rifles, 2 machine gunners and 1 AA-gun recovered from the rebels. (...), indicating, FARDC (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo) and MONUC did not suffer any further loss," writes L'OBSERVATEUR. FARDC, backed by MONUC, regained control of that portion of the eastern DRC!, says LE PALMARES. The press was taken to Eringeti, "to confirm the routing of Ugandan rebels," reports LE PHARE. Two ADF/NALU leaders of the Ugandan rebel group were killed in the FARDC military operations, further says the paper, echoing Generals Mbuyi of FARDC and Satiya of MONUC. Two leaders of rebel groups were killed in the fight: Prada and Amosi. "A third one, Bosco, fled to the Ruhengeri hill and a fourth, Luini, was seriously injured," writes the paper.

The fight caused thousands internally displaced persons, says LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES. "Though driven out of Mwalika, North-Kivu," Ugandan rebels have kept their capacity for nuisance, writes the paper on its front page. Having fled to the "
Ruwenzori
forest, difficult of access, the militiamen will continue committing crimes."

Pacification of Eastern Congo, a necessity, further says LE POTENTIEL. "Negative forces must leave the DRC, whether in Ituri or the North and
South Kivus
(...). The upcoming elections have plaid a decisive role in this turn of events," writes the paper, providing a brief historical background of the presence of the ex-FAR (ex-Forces Armées Rwandaises) and Interahamwe in the East, from June 1994; how they committed "most heinous crimes there," against the Congolese population; that drew International Community's anger, says LE POTENTIEL.