Government, rebel groups continue talks

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and country's two main rebel groups, currently holding talks on power-sharing in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria, could reach an agreement "by today or tomorrow", diplomatic sources told IRIN on Tuesday. The mediation team, led by UN Special Envoy Moustapha Niasse, was meeting the government delegation and the country's two main rebel groups, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC), for separate consultations on Tuesday, which "may bring the three together", one source said. A key issue is whether MLC will accept a proposed agreement which will allow President Joseph Kabila to continue to rule the country during an interim period of two years, with four vice-presidents. MLC says it wants only two vice-presidents. The MLC's secretary-general, Olivier Kamitatu, told AFP that his movement was rejecting the proposal because one of the vice-presidents would be drawn from government ranks, thus giving President Joseph Kabila too much power. The other three would come from RCD-Goma, the unarmed opposition and MLC. Other sticking-points are reportedly the question of amnesties, the allocation of parliamentary seats, power-sharing in the provinces, and security for rebels returning to the DRC capital, Kinshasa. Delegations representing RCD-Nationale, RCD-Mouvement de liberation, civil society, the Mayi-Mayi and the unarmed opposition were in the process of arriving in Pretoria on Tuesday to take part in the talks the following day, diplomatic sources confirmed. It is hoped that by Thursday evening, all consultations will have finished. On 25 October, Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Kabila of the DRC were due to travel to Pretoria to review progress made since the signing of the Pretoria peace agreement on 30 July, the media liaison officer for the South African presidency, David Hladane, told IRIN.