DRC: Alliance formed between rebels and opposition

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

DRC: Alliance formed between rebels and opposition

NAIROBI, 26 April (IRIN) - The Rwandan-backed rebel Rassemblement congolais
pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) has formed an alliance with five other
political parties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight
attempts by President Joseph Kabila and the Mouvement pour la liberation du
Congo (MLC) to form a new government, following an agreement made between
them at the end of the inter-Congolese dialogue (ICD) last week.

The alliance, called Alliance pour la sauvegarde du dialogue inter-congolais
(ASD)- to be headed by veteran politician Etienne Tshisekedi, leader of the
Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS) - has as it main
objective the continuation of the ICD in Sun City, South Africa. Other
objectives are the formation of a new consensual political order, the
defence of the Lusaka Peace Accord and the establishment of the rule of law.

The ASD, which will be based in Kisangani, eastern DRC, brings together the
UDPS, the Dynamique pour une transition neutre (DPTN), the Mouvement
Lumumbiste progressiste (MLP), the Conseil de l'opposition congolaise
externe de l'Amerique du Nord (COCEAN) and the Rassemblement pour une
nouvelle societe (RNS).

RCD spokesman Kin Kiey Mulumba told IRIN on Friday that the alliance "is
going to see everyone who can help us", including South African President
Thabo Mbeki, diplomats and the members of the United Nations Security
Council who will visiting South Africa next week, in order to apply
diplomatic pressure on the government-MLC alliance to return to the
negotiating table.

He said his message to the Security Council would be that the agreement
between the government and MLC would be unable to bring peace to the DRC,
and that all Congolese must unite to do so. "The dialogue is our last chance
to bring peace to our country," he said.

Asked what would happen if the government-MLC forged ahead with their plans
to form a government, which excludes the RCD, he said: "It will be something
bad for our country. It [the new government] will not be able to respond to
the problems in our country. It will lead to the partition of the Congo,
which we do not want." He added, however, that the ASD was not going to
fight a war with the government-MLC, saying "we are for peace".

A statement issued by the ASD on Friday described the government-MLC
agreement - which would allow Kabila to remain president and instal MLC
leader Jean-Pierre Bemba as prime minister - as "high treason" and "a grave
manifestation of political irresponsibility".

[ENDS]

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