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From Africa Recovery, Vol.17 #2 (July 2003), page 24 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
CONGO A new transitional government is being established in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As we went to press, four vice-presidents were to be sworn in. Those posts and other ministerial positions are being shared out among representatives of the former government of President Joseph Kabila, major armed groups and the unarmed opposition, all of which have been engaged in prolonged and difficult negotiations. Mr. Kabila is to remain president until elections can be organized. Even as the talks continued before the signing of an agreement on the new government last December, new fighting flared in northeastern DRC between two previously unknown militias believed to be supported by neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. It was the latest fighting in a conflict that has drawn in seven African countries at one time or another. "The final obstacle to movement towards peace in the DRC has been removed," South African President Thabo Mbeki said in Pretoria following the agreement's signing. But Mr. Aziz Pahad, deputy minister of foreign affairs, was more cautious: "Getting the transitional government going was the first hurdle. Others are still to come. I hope the international community will not remain complacent." The agreement excludes the two warring militias in Ituri, in northeastern DRC, that have engaged in months of fighting for control of Bunia, the provincial capital. The groups have massacred civilians and fired on thousands seeking refuge in the compound of the UN peacekeeping force, says UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie. The situation only stabilized after a multinational peacekeeping
force was deployed to secure Bunia and protect civilians. UN
Under-Secretary-General Jean-Marie Guehen This article may be freely reproduced, with attribution to
"Africa Recovery, United Nations". Africa Recovery Tel: (212) 963-6857
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