Kabila to set up new assembly

DRC President Laurent-Desire Kabila last week set up a 15-member advisory committee to draw up plans for electing a legislative assembly in the country. "The president realised that the country could not just go on without this vital organ," a DRC embassy spokesman in Nairobi told IRIN on Monday. "We must have a parliament and members should be elected." News organisations quoted Kabila as saying the elections could take place "in
the next few weeks" for the 300-member assembly. "It is time the country moved on, because if one part is occupied the other side should move on," the embassy spokesman said. "This is something that should have been done maybe two months after taking power. But first, we had money problems, then we needed to sit and talk but before we knew it, we were invaded." AP quoted opposition members as saying the assembly was an attempt to bypass
a national dialogue on the DRC's political future.