Former rebel group re-enters government

A key rebel leader-turned-vice-president in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's transitional coalition government, Azarias Ruberwa, announced on Wednesday that his party had rejoined the government. Ruberwa suspended his group's participation in the transitional government on 23 August.

"Certainly all our demands have not been fully met," Ruberwa, one of the DRC's four vice-presidents and leader of the former rebel Rassemblement Congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), said after a meeting with key members of his party in which they decided to end the suspension.

He added: "But many impediments to the transition process have been lifted and guarantees have been made."

The mediator of the country's conflict, South African President Thabo Mbeki, came to the capital, Kinshasa, to end the suspension. Ruberwa made his announcement following Mbeki's two-day visit that ended on Tuesday.

Ruberwa had suspended the RCD-Goma's participation in the government while in his stronghold in Goma, the capital of the province of North Kivu, where he had gone to mourn the killing on 13 August of 160 Congolese Tutsi at Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi.

Ruberwa, along with the governments of Rwanda and Burundi, accused armed groups that have been integrated into the DRC's army of participating in the killings.