Opposition leader resigns

An opposition party leader, Martin Mberi, who was also construction minister in President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s government has tendered his resignation in Brazzaville, AFP reported. “He has wanted to resign for a long time,” Mberi’s cabinet secretary Jean-Pierre Goma was quoted as saying. “President Nguesso is yet to react.” Mberi was leader of a dissident wing of the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS). Mberi often criticised the way in which the ROC overnment “orchestrated” a national dialogue forum in March and April as a basis for political reconciliation. The forum, reportedly, brought together foreign observers, Gabonese mediators and politicians from across the spectrum, including several exiles but not ousted president Pascal Lissouba. It led to a broad agreement on a transition period and a constitutional framework for bringing peace after three civil wars in the 1990s in that country. But Mberi said that a constitutional draft drawn up by the government ran the risk of “soaring up personal power and a tendency towards dictatorship in the Congo”. “I cannot as yet give the reasons for this resignation,” Mberi’s cabinet director said. “They are perhaps of a political nature.”