Kabila announces new assembly, citing dialogue delay

President Laurent-Desire Kabila on Thursday announced that a transitional national assembly will be established on 1 July. In a speech to representatives of the civil society and registered political parties, Kabila said that as Masire had yet to produce the promised funds to assist inter-Congolese dialogue, Kinshasa could “no longer be expected to put Congolese democracy on hold” and had therefore called for a constituent assembly to be inaugurated. Kabila said the setting of an assembly would not preclude inter-Congolese dialogue. “I can now reassure you that we have no interest in avoiding the inter-Congolese dialogue, no interest at all, simply because we brought up the idea of holding an inter-Congolese dialogue - no one else initiated it - well before the Lusaka meeting, some three of four months before that meeting...,” Kabila said. He said that he would transfer many of his powers to the new assembly, which would have 300 deputies.