The Hindu : Rebel leaders sworn in Vice-Presidents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 18, 2003

International

International

Rebel leaders sworn in Vice-Presidents

KINSHASA (Congo) July 17. Congo's main rebel leaders were sworn in on Thursday as Vice- Presidents in a new power-sharing Government created to end the country's nearly five-year-long civil war that has left over 3 million people dead.

At a ceremony attended by thousands in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, hopes were high that this would be a major step toward reunifying this vast Central African nation, at war since 1998.

The two rebel leaders — Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Uganda-backed Congolese Liberation movement and Azarias Ruberwa of the Rwanda-allied Congolese Rally for Democracy — were two of four new Vice-Presidents sworn in under the Congolese President, Joseph Kabila.

The other two were Abdoulaye Yerodia Nbombasi, allied to Mr. Kabila, and Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma, a member of the country's unarmed political Opposition.

Together, the four Vice-Presidents form a major part of the new power-sharing Government, agreed to in December. Headed by Mr. Kabila, the Government meets for the first time on Saturday, and has until Aug. 4 to draft a plan for leading the mineral-rich country to elections within a year.

On Wednesday, the rebel leaders sounded optimistic about peace after meeting separately with Mr. Kabila.

``There is no more doubt, it's irreversible,'' Mr. Ruberwa said.

``We are here as partners and not as belligerents.'' Mr. Bemba echoed that sentiment.

``We have turned the page from the war,'' Mr. Bemba said. ``The five years we passed in the rebellion gave us ... the pathways to get this country out of the crisis.''

But Congo still faces numerous hurdles as it tries to end years of strife. The Kinshasa-based Government is weak and incapable of establishing rule of law across Congo, a country the size of western Europe.

But in Africa's third-largest nation, people remain hopeful that the transition government will hold and mark a major step toward the end of the conflict.

The conflict has killed an estimated 3.3 million people.

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