Rebels should join national consultation, Belgium says

Opposition groups in DRC should not “spit immediately on the national consultation” process being coordinated by church groups in DRC because, even if it was not perfect, it offered the possibility of opening a real dialogue, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said on Tuesday. “If you say that President [Laurent-Desire] Kabila is trying to co-opt the national consultation, maybe you should try to co-opt it as well,” Reuters news agency quoted Michel as saying at a press conference in Kinshasa. “The national consultation, even if imperfect, is a start, a beginning. A domino has fallen ... and could lead to a real Congolese debate.” The main rebel and political opposition groups boycotted the consultation last week on the assumption that Kabila would hijack the process, yet it called for Kabila to allow greater space for political activity, form a transitional government and appoint a prime minister.