Press Review 21 February 2005
Under the title «TO BE READ TWICE», LE PHARE writes: «Between the temptation lapsing into chaos and the international community's divisions: We should prevent the Congo from drifting away». The paper refers to the issuance of Congolese leaders' CVs by De Gutch as «a serious blunder » following which «the whole situation was nearly marred». «We should keep our composure whilst coping with such a highly sensitive issue, bearing in mind that only time will tell», the paper says. The paper further says Karel de Gutch has not «changed his position when referring to the Congolese leaders as incompetent». The paper echoes some of the remarks made by the Belgian minister of foreign affairs that « there are only a few politicians who are up to their responsibilities».
LA REFERENCE PLUS comments the same incident and denounces a «lack of professionalism from Karel De Gutch who is to be regarded as a professional blunderer».
LA TEMPETE DES TROPIQUES, in turn, comments the proceedings around the budget 2005, indicating that «the elections (are) in the background». «Of 750 billion Congolese Francs, the package for the whole national budget, only seven hundred million Congolese francs are allocated to the organisation of the elections, say 1% of the overall amount», the paper writes.