UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
5 Mar
2009
Press Review
The headlines in today's local papers in Kinshasa mainly focus on the Washington meeting between the Foreign Affairs Ministers of DRC, Rwanda and Uganda as well as the review of the bill on the organisation of the Congolese armed Forces by the National Assembly. The daily papers also go back over the nominations of the governors whose list has not been published yet.
Under the headlines George Bush rushes to DRC's aid, LE PALMARES, alludes to the recent Washington meeting between DRC, Rwanda and Ugandan Foreign Affairs Ministers. The paper notes that the meeting is no accident. ''It was initiated by George Bush himself who dispatched two of his best assistants to the front: Secretary of State Colin Powell and Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice''. This gesture shows ''the importance which the American President attaches to the meeting''. The DRC minister of foreign affairs, Antoine Ghonda, expressed the same feeling. He is quoted by the paper as declaring ''the presence of the two senior officials of the Bush administration is an indication that the DRC dossier continues to be relevant to the American leadership in spite of their own difficulties experienced elsewhere''. The head of the Congolese diplomacy also informed the paper of the appreciation made by the American president over some transitional key players in DRC. ''President Bush said the DRC had the youngest president in the planet. He also highlighted that Olivier Kamitatu was the youngest president of the National Assembly in the world and myself the oldest minister of foreign affairs'', declared Antoine Ghonda.
In another news, LE PHARE reports that the National Assembly opened debates on the bill on the general organisation of the National Defence and Armed Forces on Thursday. The paper feels that ''the Government's bill on the army could scare people, since this body would resemble the former presidential guard under Mobutu, Eyadema, Hassan II or Habyarimana''. The paper highlights that the president alone is entitled to ''15,000 troops''. LE PHARE feels that at a time when the DRC is in search for a democratic system, ''the Congolese people do not need personal guards the type to be like republican guards''. We do need ''a true and protective republican guard for the institutions'''.
Expected yesterday, the nominations in territorial administration were not made over the weekend, FORUM DES AS says. The paper justifies this report by the fact that ''the Government has insisted on following procedures in terms of the nomination of public proxies in the territorial administration''. Therefore, indicates the paper, nominations can only come after the promulgation of the law on the organisation of the territorial administration modified on the basis of the incorporation of the post of third vice-governor for the town of Kinshasa. For the moment, notes the paper, we are witnessing the harmonisation of the lists of candidates within the components.
LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES indicates for its part that the power-sharing in provinces continues to spark protests. ''The last one was made by the Hunde community who refuses that North Kivu province be given to the RCD'', reports the paper indicating that the community declares itself opposed to ''those who have been committing rapes, plundering and massacres on a daily basis'' in the territories under their control.
Furthermore, the same paper echoes a declaration issued by the 'Parti national Lubayiste (PNL)', which, during a press conference, called on MONUC to ''fully implement its mandate in the DRC''. Quoting the Lusaka Agreement, the leader of this party highlighted that MONUC's mission is to ''disarm all the combatant forces and armed groups, to form a national republican army, to secure the population as well as their properties, under the chapter VII''. They are also supposed to ''monitor the general elections until the results are proclaimed'', he said.
With regard to the presence of the Interahamwe militiamen in Eastern DRC, the Maï-Maï offer their mediation to MONUC, indicates LE PHARE. The paper echoes a Maï-Maï declaration urging MONUC, among other things, to ''objectively and without disdain explore the possibility and collaboration offered them by the Maï-Maï patriots to hasten the stamping out of armed groups and dismantle their networks and arms cache in Eastern DRC with a view to accelerating the normalisation of the administrative situation throughout the country''.
The reunification of the country through media broadcast is reportedly in a deadlock, says L'AVENIR alluding to the jammed TV Kinshasa signals in Eastern DRC. The paper asserts that this deadlock would have been caused by ''the political and administrative authorities in that part of the country in a bid to prevent the population from receiving information denouncing their collaboration with some aggressor- countries''.
In another news, LE PHARE reports that the National Assembly opened debates on the bill on the general organisation of the National Defence and Armed Forces on Thursday. The paper feels that ''the Government's bill on the army could scare people, since this body would resemble the former presidential guard under Mobutu, Eyadema, Hassan II or Habyarimana''. The paper highlights that the president alone is entitled to ''15,000 troops''. LE PHARE feels that at a time when the DRC is in search for a democratic system, ''the Congolese people do not need personal guards the type to be like republican guards''. We do need ''a true and protective republican guard for the institutions'''.
Expected yesterday, the nominations in territorial administration were not made over the weekend, FORUM DES AS says. The paper justifies this report by the fact that ''the Government has insisted on following procedures in terms of the nomination of public proxies in the territorial administration''. Therefore, indicates the paper, nominations can only come after the promulgation of the law on the organisation of the territorial administration modified on the basis of the incorporation of the post of third vice-governor for the town of Kinshasa. For the moment, notes the paper, we are witnessing the harmonisation of the lists of candidates within the components.
LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES indicates for its part that the power-sharing in provinces continues to spark protests. ''The last one was made by the Hunde community who refuses that North Kivu province be given to the RCD'', reports the paper indicating that the community declares itself opposed to ''those who have been committing rapes, plundering and massacres on a daily basis'' in the territories under their control.
Furthermore, the same paper echoes a declaration issued by the 'Parti national Lubayiste (PNL)', which, during a press conference, called on MONUC to ''fully implement its mandate in the DRC''. Quoting the Lusaka Agreement, the leader of this party highlighted that MONUC's mission is to ''disarm all the combatant forces and armed groups, to form a national republican army, to secure the population as well as their properties, under the chapter VII''. They are also supposed to ''monitor the general elections until the results are proclaimed'', he said.
With regard to the presence of the Interahamwe militiamen in Eastern DRC, the Maï-Maï offer their mediation to MONUC, indicates LE PHARE. The paper echoes a Maï-Maï declaration urging MONUC, among other things, to ''objectively and without disdain explore the possibility and collaboration offered them by the Maï-Maï patriots to hasten the stamping out of armed groups and dismantle their networks and arms cache in Eastern DRC with a view to accelerating the normalisation of the administrative situation throughout the country''.
The reunification of the country through media broadcast is reportedly in a deadlock, says L'AVENIR alluding to the jammed TV Kinshasa signals in Eastern DRC. The paper asserts that this deadlock would have been caused by ''the political and administrative authorities in that part of the country in a bid to prevent the population from receiving information denouncing their collaboration with some aggressor- countries''.
