Kabila to name cabinet within a week

DRC President Joseph Kabila on Thursday said in Berlin, Germany that he would name a new cabinet within the week, news organisations reported. Kabila was speaking a day after he dismissed his entire cabinet. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted Kabila as saying he would organise elections as soon as all foreign powers involved in the war in his country had withdrawn. “As soon as foreign forces leave, the Congolese people, myself included, are ready to go to elections. Of course, there is the inter-Congolese dialogue, where all those matters will be discussed and a date for elections will be set up,” he told the BBC. He noted that the elections would only be held with the help of the international community. He expressed “cautious optimism” about the peace process in his country. “I believe the prospects for peace are there. We have got the peace process on track,” he said. “But I should insist that peace will always come to the Congo when the territorial integrity of the Congo is restored.” The German government, for its part, offered Kabila its support for the reform process in his country, the ‘German Deutschlandfunk’ radio reported on Thursday. It quoted Germany’s development aid minister as saying the most important issue for the DRC was external and internal peace.