RCD refuses to demilitarise Kisangani

DRC: RCD refuses to demilitarise Kisangani

The Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) armed opposition movement have said that the appointment of provincial governors in rebel-held territory by Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila would delay the demilitarisation of the northeastern city of Kisangani.

While acknowledging that the RCD had "accepted the demilitarisation of Kisangani" and giving assurances that his organisation "remained respectful of having given its word" on the matter, RCD spokesman and head of its Department of Communication and Culture, Tryphon Kin-kiey Mulumba, said that Kabila's appointment of governors in RCD territory would "delay the demilitarisation of the city of Kisangani". In a statement issued on Monday, following a monthly RCD meeting that discussed the matter on 26 November, Mulumba stated that "in face of these new circumstances, [the RCD] expresses its deepest concerns about the future of the programme of demilitarisation of the city of Kisangani".

On 23 November, Kabila appointed 11 governors throughout the DRC - four to provinces under rebel control as part of a reform in territorial administration. AFP reported on Friday that officials in Kinshasa said that the governors named to rebel-held territory would not assume their functions until circumstances allow, but that they have already been given the paperwork concerning their respective provinces.

Swearing in all 11 governors on 26 November, Kabila noted "the absolute determination of the whole Congolese people to preserve national sovereignty and unity and to safeguard territorial integrity," AFP quoted him as saying. However, RCD deputy spokesman Jean-Pierre Lola Kisanga told AFP on Friday that the RCD had informed the UN that it would not change its position regarding Kisangani, the third largest city of the DRC that they have held since the start of war in the DRC in August 1998.

"There will, therefore, be no demilitarisation of Kisangani until Kinshasa has given us satisfactory explanations" for Kinshasa's administrative decisions, AFP quoted Lola Kisanga as saying.

Meanwhile, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the DRC, Amos Namanga Ngongi, traveled to the eastern city of Goma on Thursday to "exchange views on the ways and means of dealing with the issue of the demilitarisation of Kisangani, which was accepted by the RCD during a meeting of the Security Council in October", spokesman of the UN Mission in the DRC (known by its French acronym, MONUC) Hamadoun Toure said.