Differing views at the inter-Congolese dialogue

The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has warned that it may not respect agreements reached at the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) unless foreign forces are withdrawn first.

"Resolutions resulting from the dialogue will be a dead letter if Rwandan and Ugandan troops continue to occupy our country at the end of these sessions," said DRC Foreign Minister Leonard She Okitundu, at the Sun City talks, in a declaration on the government’s position.

Under the Lusaka cease-fire agreement - the basis for the dialogue - the order of events should be the following: the 45-day national dialogue, followed by the setting up of new institutions (one day later), followed by the disarmament of foreign "armed groups" (within a further 30 days) and finally the withdrawal of foreign troops (within a further 90 days).

"The country suffers from two major problems - a lack of legitimacy in its political development since independence, and the war of aggression launched by Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi," his statement continued.

"Three battles fought with heavy weapons between the Rwandan and Ugandan armies at Kisangani are sufficient proof that the war in DRC is an aggression."

Okitundu condemned massacres perpetrated in the "occupied territories", and called for an international penal tribunal for the DRC. "The way to resolve lack of legitimacy is by rapidly organising free elections, under an independent commission. The transition should be as short as possible. The government is for a presidential regime in a strongly decentralised unitary state during the transition."

The dialogue was not a constituent legislative assembly, Okitundu stressed. (Kinshasa has already created such an assembly, composed of government nominees, although Okitundu said nothing about it.)

DRC Presidency Minister Katumba Mwanke said at the weekend that 30 year-old Joseph Kabila must remain president during a transition period. He envisaged elections within 18 to 24 months, he said. Rebels and oppositionists could be included in the government, he added, but the president would designate them.

A declaration by rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD), emphasised the continuing need for peace in the DRC. "First the international community and UN must concentrate its efforts on complete disarmament of all armed groups, by the deployment of a force with a mandate to disarm, pacify and ensure peace in Congo."

"The international community should offer guarantees in the form of institutions to oversee the peace agreement, including an arbitration committee," the RCD stated.

"The dialogue must result in a transitional constitution, new institutions and the choice of their office holders by this assembly (i.e. the dialogue), including the holder of the office of president." The RCD proposed setting up a federalist state with a federal police. It spoke of "participative democracy" after the transition, but did not mention elections.

The declaration by the rebel Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo (MLC), did not specifically mention elections either, although it did say that "the people must choose their leaders freely and transparently". Its declaration called for a permanent anti-corruption commission, and "the establishment of a federal system".

The MLC leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, said on Friday, 15 March, that he had not confirmed his candidature for the presidency during a transition period, but did confirm his candidature in future elections. MLC delegates said they envisaged elections within two to two and a half years.

So far, the only politician at the dialogue (apart from incumbent President Joseph Kabila), who has clearly confirmed his candidature for the presidency during a transition, is Etienne Tshisekedi, the 69 year-old veteran of Congo’s opposition and founder of L'union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS).

The organisers of the dialogue have reported that the UDPS and former President Mobutu Sese Seko's party, Mouvement populaire de la revolution (MPR), are the only two unarmed opposition parties which can claim a nationwide following. Tshisekedi was elected prime minister in 1992 by a coopted body similar to the ICD. "Non-respect of consensus achieved in 1992 is the principal cause of the current political crisis," he has declared.

The UDPS proposes a transition lasting three to five years before elections, by which time Tschisekedi will be 74.

Catherine Nzuzi Wa Mbombo, the leader of the MPR, called for democracy and the rule of law, and the incorporation in a new army of troops from Mobutu’s old army.

Of the other opposition politicians, the best known are Antoine Gizenga, a veteran of the country's first post-independence government, and Francois Lumumba, son of the country’s first elected prime minister, who was assassinated in 1961.

Gizenga has called for a new government to be coopted by survivors from the parliament elected in 1960, "as the only people in the country elected by a free vote. Those people can then coopt other members".