DR CONGO: The Democratic Republic of Congo swore in four vice-presidents yesterday, inaugurating a power-sharing government intended to end a five-year-old war that has torn the huge African country apart.
But fresh fighting in Congo's remote northeast cast shadows over the political progress in Kinshasa, as rebels claimed at least 54 people were killed in the latest violence.
The new administration in the capital has the leaders of Congo's two largest rebel groups as vice-presidents, along with a politician close to President Joseph Kabila, and a member of the country's political opposition.
"We are happy, it marks the end of the war," said Mr Mbusa Nyamwisi, the leader of a third rebel faction, who attended the swearing-in. "It's a victory for the country, now there is a lot of work. We cannot change the past, but we can the future." The four vice-presidents are Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of the MLC rebel group, Mr Azarias Ruberwa from the RCD-Goma rebels, Mr Z'Ahidi Ngoma from the civilian opposition and Mr Yerodia Abdoulaye Ndombasi. Mr Kabila stays on as President.
Ministers selected from rebel groups, the political opposition and the government have already taken over their ministries in the new administration, due to meet for the first time tomorrow.
The war in Congo began in 1998, when Uganda and Rwanda invaded to back rebels fighting Kinshasa. Three million people have died - a mainly civilian toll which rights groups say is worse than any conflict since the second World War.
The war has dragged in many foreign armies. Numerous rebel groups battle for supremacy, backed by regional powers who want to maintain their influence in the mineral-rich region.
Rebels from the PUSIC faction said militias allied to the rival Hema and Lendu tribes had been fighting in the northeastern Ituri region, just 50 km from Bunia, where a multinational force has been deployed to keep the peace.That force does not have the mandate to go beyond Bunia.
MONUC, a permanent United Nations mission in Congo, also lacks the mandate and manpower to stop the bloodshed and horrific human rights abuses in Ituri.
A MONUC spokesman in Bunia confirmed there had been heavy fighting around the town of Tchomia. "There have definitely been attacks with heavy weapons," Mr Leocadio Salmeron said by telephone. "But we don't have a reliable death toll. The rebels say there were attacks on Tchomia and Kaseni in the last few days ... that there are 54 dead and a hospital destroyed, but it is not confirmed."
A spokesman from the mainly Hema PUSIC said Lendu militiamen and fighters from Nyamwisi's RCD-ML faction, backed by Kinshasa, attacked Tchomia at 4 a.m. local time on Tuesday. "The attackers burned three houses but we killed 32 of them before they fled into the mountains," Mr Kisembo Bitamara said by telephone.
EU foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana is expected to report to the UN Security Council today after touring the Great Lakes region during the week.