Mobutu general forms new political front

A new political group, the Congolese Front for National Reconstruction (CFNR), was launched on Sunday at the Nile Hotel in Kampala, the 'Sunday Monitor' reported. The party's first vice chairman Richard Pendje Demodetdo said the front was intended to "find a political solution to the Congo problem". "The Democratic Republic of Congo is not short of armies, rebel groups or armed tribal militias...What is lacking is the political will...to discuss amicably," he said. "The solutions shall only be political rather than military confrontations." The CFNR intends to talk to different rebel factions and the government "if that is what it takes to bring peace". CFNR's chairman is Mbayi Kalombo a former member of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi's party, while the new party's second vice chairman is ex-Mobutu general Baramoto. Meanwhile, two high ranking officials of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML) on 22 May announced their resignation from the party and formed the Congres des progressistes pour la liberation (CPL). In a press release, the two, Shambuyi Kalala and Jim Balikwisha, both RCD founding members, said they were "disengaging" from the activities of RCD-ML. "It is unacceptable to see the fight for the leadership continuing until the existence of all the fatherland is sacrificed," the statement said.