Breakthrough in power-sharing talks

The Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC) rebel group said on Tuesday it would accept, with certain conditions, a power-sharing agreement with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Rwanda-backed rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma). The agreement would allow President Joseph Kabila to remain president of the DRC with four vice-presidents. These would be chosen from RCD-Goma, MLC, the unarmed opposition and the current government. "In the interests of the Congo, we have decided to accept the principle of four vice-presidents, but we have attached some conditions to this. The government must now respond," Olivier Kamitatu, the MLC secretary-general, told AFP. The MLC is reportedly demanding that the government negotiate on precisely how power will be shared at each level of government. UN Special Envoy to the DRC Moustapha Niasse told reporters in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria (where the informal talks are taking place), that he would hold follow-up meetings with the MLC and RCD-Goma on Friday. Meanwhile, he began separate consultations on Wednesday with other Congolese groups, including the Mayi-Mayi, RCD-Nationale, RCD-Kisangani/Mouvement de liberation and the unarmed political opposition. Speaking on the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme, the DRC ambassador to South Africa, Ben Mpoko, said a lot of progress had been made with the deal. "The delegations were very happy, everybody was elated," he said. "My feeling is that the political will is there, the Congolese people are tired of fighting, tired of suffering." Once transitional arrangements for the country had emerged from the talks, the inter-Congolese dialogue would formally endorse them, the UN said last week. Niasse and South African President Thabo Mbeki, with the support of the African Union and the South African government, are brokering the talks.