Power-sharing talks resume in South Africa

Power-sharing talks between the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its opponents resumed in the South African capital, Pretoria, on Monday. Moustapha Niasse, the special envoy to the DRC of the United Nations Secretary-General, said a report synthesising points of agreement between the government, rebel groups and the unarmed opposition would be examined by a plenary session of the inter-Congolese dialogue on Wednesday. "We have all the ingredients of an agreement. All we have to do now is to carefully synthesise the points, to make sure that we reach the necessary balance," Niasse said. "We want to offer a global accord as a Christmas and News Year present to our people," added Vital Kamerhe, the commissioner-general of the government in charge of the peace process in the Great Lakes region. Divergences of opinion on issues regarding defence and politics are still being reported between the government and the country's rebel movements. The rebel groups have reportedly demanded power sharing down to village level, as well as roles in the police, the army, the intelligence service, the diplomatic service and state-owned companies. They have also demanded a continuing presence of three brigades for each rebel movement in the capital, Kinshasa, to ensure their continued security. But the government remains opposed to what it calls "vertical power-sharing" beyond the levels of central government and parliament. "We cannot accept the politicisation of businesses. It is not permissible that every university would have, for example, a rector from the government, an academic secretary-general from MLC [Mouvement de liberation du Congo of Jean-Pierre Bemba] and an administrative secretary-general from RCD-Goma [Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma]," Kamerhe said.