NAIROBI, 22 January (IRIN) - President-elect
Joseph Kabila, the son of slain Congolese president Laurent-Desire Kabila,
has vowed to restore the country's territorial integrity and retake rebel-held
areas.
Congolese state television said Kabila
junior, who also takes on the mantle of supreme commander of the armed
forces, told the military high command on Friday that the army was "one
and indivisible". He urged the commanders to continue with his father's
goal "namely to reconquer all the occupied territories of the country
and guarantee the territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC)".
"The objective will be attained by the discipline, cohesion and unity of the Forces armees congolaises (FAC) who have been called upon to transcend regional, tribal and ethnic divisions," Kabila said.
Outwardly, at least, the government line appears unchanged. Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo on Saturday demanded the withdrawal of "aggressor troops" from the country. He urged the international community, at a news conference, to push for the withdrawal of Uganda and Rwanda, blaming Kampala for the current outbreak of violent ethnic clashes in the northeastern Ituri district. "The Ugandan government is deliberately trying to find a pretext to send more troops to the DRC," he said.
Furthermore, Information Minister Dominique Sakombi rejected calls for "reactivating" the Lusaka ceasefire agreement. "We are for dialogue and for the Lusaka accords since we signed them," he told Radio France Internationale (RFI). "However, things have changed so much since then that one cannot talk of reactivation." He explained that as the accord had never been implemented, it could not be reactivated. "This accord involves a ceasefire, but there has never been one," he added.
The future of the peace process now hangs in the balance. Diplomatic sources told IRIN some western nations were reluctant to discuss a relaunch of the process as they were uncertain whether Joseph Kabila had effective control over the country. Kabila's military record has been cited as a cause of concern for the stability of the DRC, as has his upbringing in Uganda and Rwanda and the fact that his mother is a Tutsi. There are also question marks over the legitimacy of the new government, the sources said. UN spokesman Fred Eckhard earlier described the situation in the DRC as "a royal mess".
Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo on Sunday justified the nomination of Kabila to succeed his father, saying that swift action was needed to "avert chaos", RFI reported. "He will take office, he will have to be sworn in," Kongolo said. "The legal and judicial procedures must be respected."
Meanwhile, Louis Michel, the foreign minister of the former colonial power Belgium, will attend Laurent-Desire Kabila's state funeral on Tuesday. A statement from the Belgian foreign ministry said he would also visit the countries which signed the Lusaka peace accord, namely Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Rwanda, Uganda and Gabon.
[ENDS]
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