UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
6 Mar
2009
Press Review
South African President, Thabo Mbeki arrived in Kinshasa yesterday and immediately after initiated a series of talks with Congolese officials. This is the issue broadly commented by today's local papers.
Joseph Kabila and Thabo Mbeki held fruitful talks yesterday, reports L'OBSERVATEUR. The two Presidents reviewed the political and economic situations in DRC, says the paper, further indicating that Joseph Kabila briefed Thabo Mbeki on the progress of the DRC transition. The South African President also held talks with National Assembly and Senate as well as the institutions in support of democracy, the paper says.
Thabo Mbeki addresses the Congolese crisis, titles LE PHARE, noting that immediately after holding talks with President Kabila, President Thabo Mbeki met with several personalities, including the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the DRC, William Lacy Swing. Nothing leaked out of their talks, says the paper, indicating that ''they might have reviewed the lingering DRC Transition and South African support to the Congolese Transition''. Thabo Mbeki thereafter received, separately, three Congolese Vice-Presidents: Azarias Ruberwa, Jean-Pierre Bemba and Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma to ''mainly discuss the differences of views among the Transition's stakeholders and the pitfalls in the way of the cohabitation between the members of the presidential circle''.
LE PALMARES says that during the respective meetings, Thabo Mbeki was apparently determined to break the impasse. However ''there are lots of obstacles in his way'', with regards to the ''conflicting tunes from the different major stakeholders'', says the paper, alluding to Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa's position to suspend his participation in the Transitional institutions, and ''to return only if the outcome of the talks with President Thabo Mbeki is positive''. The paper also echoes Vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba's position, indicating that ''the concerns raised by RCD must be addressed within the Transition's institutions. The transition process should continue and must go all the way up to the elections'', he said, adding that it is the responsibility of the Congolese people to solve their problems, and ''President Mbeki should not solve them for us''.
Referring to the talks between Thabo Mbeki and Azarias Ruberwa, LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES reports that the Vice-president was apparently ''confident, optimistic and strict'', counting on the ''presence of the south African president in Kinshasa for consultations with the different parties in a bid to bring the Transition back on track''.
With regard to President Thabo Mbeki's visit, LA REFERENCE PLUS indicates that the South African President is due to chair the opening session of the big joint bilateral commission DRC-South Africa aimed to ratify the different reports respectively issued by the south African and the Congolese experts who prepared them over the week-end, the paper says.
FORUM DES AS comments on the return of Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa to Kinshasa on Monday after ''retreating to Goma for about fifteen days''. In this regard, the paper says, ''for the sake of his security and to avoid angry mob demonstration in the flash and populous points of the city'RCD national leader flew on board a Monuc helicopter to his residence along the Congo river''. This leads the paper to say that Ruberwa was ''saved from a mob fury thanks to a Monuc flight''.
LE POTENTIEL recalls that Vice-president Ruberwa was on an official mission to eastern DRC, Rwanda and Burundi and was therefore expected to submit a report to the Government adding that ''according to the ways and customs in force during the transition's period, a report must be submitted to the relevant institutions, that is, the President, the presidential circle and the government after an official mission''. But the paper was sad to note that ''the Vice-president has given priority to his party's internal problems and laid complaints before the South African head of state and closed RCD headquarters in Kinshasa''.
The headlines in L'AVENIR reads: The who's who of those who saved and brought down Ruberwa, reporting the existence of two wings within RCD, a pro-Ruberwa and ''Kigali'' backed by MPs such as Moïse Nyarugabo and Emungu, Minister Gertrude Kitembo' on one hand, and on the other, ''those whom branded heroes'', for having ''shown a courageous attitude, giving Ruberwa the last chance to set foot in Kinshasa'', including ''all RCD ministers and senators, who stayed in Kinshasa and signed a declaration for the continuation of their participation in the transition's institutions''.
Thabo Mbeki addresses the Congolese crisis, titles LE PHARE, noting that immediately after holding talks with President Kabila, President Thabo Mbeki met with several personalities, including the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the DRC, William Lacy Swing. Nothing leaked out of their talks, says the paper, indicating that ''they might have reviewed the lingering DRC Transition and South African support to the Congolese Transition''. Thabo Mbeki thereafter received, separately, three Congolese Vice-Presidents: Azarias Ruberwa, Jean-Pierre Bemba and Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma to ''mainly discuss the differences of views among the Transition's stakeholders and the pitfalls in the way of the cohabitation between the members of the presidential circle''.
LE PALMARES says that during the respective meetings, Thabo Mbeki was apparently determined to break the impasse. However ''there are lots of obstacles in his way'', with regards to the ''conflicting tunes from the different major stakeholders'', says the paper, alluding to Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa's position to suspend his participation in the Transitional institutions, and ''to return only if the outcome of the talks with President Thabo Mbeki is positive''. The paper also echoes Vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba's position, indicating that ''the concerns raised by RCD must be addressed within the Transition's institutions. The transition process should continue and must go all the way up to the elections'', he said, adding that it is the responsibility of the Congolese people to solve their problems, and ''President Mbeki should not solve them for us''.
Referring to the talks between Thabo Mbeki and Azarias Ruberwa, LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES reports that the Vice-president was apparently ''confident, optimistic and strict'', counting on the ''presence of the south African president in Kinshasa for consultations with the different parties in a bid to bring the Transition back on track''.
With regard to President Thabo Mbeki's visit, LA REFERENCE PLUS indicates that the South African President is due to chair the opening session of the big joint bilateral commission DRC-South Africa aimed to ratify the different reports respectively issued by the south African and the Congolese experts who prepared them over the week-end, the paper says.
FORUM DES AS comments on the return of Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa to Kinshasa on Monday after ''retreating to Goma for about fifteen days''. In this regard, the paper says, ''for the sake of his security and to avoid angry mob demonstration in the flash and populous points of the city'RCD national leader flew on board a Monuc helicopter to his residence along the Congo river''. This leads the paper to say that Ruberwa was ''saved from a mob fury thanks to a Monuc flight''.
LE POTENTIEL recalls that Vice-president Ruberwa was on an official mission to eastern DRC, Rwanda and Burundi and was therefore expected to submit a report to the Government adding that ''according to the ways and customs in force during the transition's period, a report must be submitted to the relevant institutions, that is, the President, the presidential circle and the government after an official mission''. But the paper was sad to note that ''the Vice-president has given priority to his party's internal problems and laid complaints before the South African head of state and closed RCD headquarters in Kinshasa''.
The headlines in L'AVENIR reads: The who's who of those who saved and brought down Ruberwa, reporting the existence of two wings within RCD, a pro-Ruberwa and ''Kigali'' backed by MPs such as Moïse Nyarugabo and Emungu, Minister Gertrude Kitembo' on one hand, and on the other, ''those whom branded heroes'', for having ''shown a courageous attitude, giving Ruberwa the last chance to set foot in Kinshasa'', including ''all RCD ministers and senators, who stayed in Kinshasa and signed a declaration for the continuation of their participation in the transition's institutions''.
