Rivals sign all-inclusive peace deal

Warring parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed an all-inclusive power-sharing deal on Tuesday to establish a government of national unity and hopefully end four years of war, news organisations reported.

Under the agreement, reached after months of stop-start negotiations known as the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD), President Joseph Kabila will remain in office for the next two years until the country's first elections since independence from Belgium in 1960 are held. He will be assisted by four vice-presidents, respectively representing the government, the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma, the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) and the unarmed political opposition.

There will be 36 ministers and 25 deputy ministers, a 500-member National Assembly and a 120-member Senate.

The accord provides for a Higher Defence Council (Conseil superieur de la defense) to be chaired by the president of the republic. An integrated national police force will provide security.

AFP reported that the accord permits ministers from the various groups to have their own bodyguards, but "abandons a proposal that 2,000 South African troops assure their security". The MLC was awarded the presidency of the National Assembly, having maintained that it needed the position to ensure a fair balance of power, AFP added.

Representatives of the government, rebel movements, militias, opposition parties and civil society all signed the accord - their first all-inclusive deal. South African President Thabo Mbeki nursed them through the negotiations, which began on Sunday, the Mail & Guardian online reported. The ICD first began on 15 October 2001 in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. [For more on accord see Mail & Guardian]

With the accord signed, Mustapha Niasse, the UN secretary-general's special envoy in the DRC, said the "next step" would be for Ketumile Masire, the facilitator of the ICD, to take charge of the next stage of the ICD.

The commissioner-general of the DRC government in charge of the peace process in the Great Lakes region, Vital Kamerhe, said the accord marked the "reunification of the country".

To this, the government spokesman, Kikaya Bin Karubi, added: "We, the government, are happy with the accord, because we are one of the signatories. We have, for our part, decided to apply it. It will require others to come here, to the capital [Kinshasa]. We know there are certain points which have remained in abeyance, but we are content that the essential has been done."