Inter-Congolese dialogue gains momentum

The various factions present at the inter-Congolese dialogue talks in Sun City, South Africa, began tabling their proposals for rebuilding their country on Tuesday.

The delegates have split into five commissions which will sit for a month, during which they will report back to the facilitators on a weekly basis, before the talks end in mid-April.

A commission charged with creating a new political system for the country was proving the most popular, but potentially also the most troubled, AFP quoted a delegate as saying.

"For the moment we are dealing with non-contentious issues, but when we get down to discussing what democratic structures will be created and who will be part of them, things are going to get very heated, AFP quoted an opposition member, Diomi Ndongola, as saying.

In a deferral of the dispute surrounding the future role of President Joseph Kabila, it has been decided that the political commission - comprising 80 members - will reach a consensus on the matter.

Meanwhile, on Monday, a decision was taken not to allow foreign belligerents, such as Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, who had sent delegates to the talks, to sit in on meetings, which are chaired by experts from neutral states, AFP reported.

The US, Belgium and Canada had also applied for observer status at the talks, but were rejected on the grounds that if they were allowed to assume such a role, then the belligerent nations would also have the right to attend.

In a separate development, the indigenous human rights advocacy group Association africaine de defense des droits de l'homme (ASADHO), has called for the establishment of a justice, truth and reconciliation commission to break the "chain of impunity" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has led to repeated violations of human rights, the association says.