Government summons parliament

The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have summoned the newly appointed parliament to convene in the capital, Kinshasa, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Swahili service on Wednesday. No reason was given for summoning parliament, which normally sits in the southern town of Lubumbashi, but analysts in Kinshasa told the BBC that the war in Equateur region was likely to dominate the agenda. Opposition parties and the rebels do not recognise the parliament, whose members were hand-picked by President Laurent-Desire Kabila, on the grounds that it constitutes a violation of the Lusaka agreement, which calls for an inter-Congolese dialogue before institutions are put in place.