Peace gathers pace in DRC
18 May 2005
President Thabo Mbeki attended a ceremony in Kinshasa on Monday marking the adoption of the new constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In a special sitting, the country's parliament approved the DRC's first democratic constitution since independence in 1960, paving the way for the first democratic elections in the war-ravaged country in over 40 years.
Mbeki joined DRC President Joseph Kabila, his four vice-presidents - all drawn from different warring parties and political groups - and leaders of opposition parties to celebrate the historic event.
If approved by a national referendum within the next six months, the constitution will mandate parliamentary and presidential elections by June 2006.
The new document replaces the transitional constitution brokered by South Africa in 2002, as part of a peace deal ending the five-year war in the mineral-rich country. The conflict left nearly 4-million dead, mostly from
starvation and disease.
"South Africa is one of the guarantors of peace in the DRC, and remains steadfast in its commitment to help the country's people entrench peace, democracy and stability," Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said.
During the South Africa-DRC Binational Commission held in Pretoria in April, Mbeki and Kabila reaffirmed their commitment to the DRC elections, stressing they were "on track".
"Voter registration has started in Kinshasa and will move across the country in June," Kabila said at the time.
During the commission, it was agreed that South Africa would help the Congolose set up and improve their police, public service, revenue and custom services, as part of an attempt to return the country to good governance and democracy.
The elections will crown President Mbeki's years of mediation since the peace deal, in which all warring parties committed themselves to a peaceful transitional government.
Elections were
scheduled to be held by June 30, but leaders of the warring parties said they were not ready. The country's Independent Electoral Commission asked parliament to delay the elections, leaving the transitional government led by Kabila in power until a new date is set.
The former Belgian colony, bordered by Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia, has enormous mineral wealth from its gold, silver, diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc uranium and tantalum reserves. It is potentially the richest nation in Africa.
But it has known little peace since independence in 1960, with sporadic uprisings and riots, a coup d'etat against the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, the five-year war, and the assassinations of former Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1960 and of President Laurent Kabila, Joseph's father, in 2001.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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