Talks about transitional government arrangements in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been temporarily suspended, South African Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Saturday.
The negotiations were set to resume later this month, Mufamadi, who co-chaired the meeting, told reporters in Pretoria.
The participating parties had agreed on the principles, but were requested to draw up written submissions about the modalities by next Friday, he said.
The negotiations, which started last Saturday, were convened by President Thabo Mbeki and United Nations special envoy Moustapha Niasse.
Niasse said on Saturday: ”From November 15 to 21 we really hope to be able to finish the negotiations — if we don’t have to face new difficulties coming from one component or another.”
Mufamadi said the mediation team sought to reach agreement on the broad principles underpinning the process of transition, as well as on the mechanisms and modalities of transition.
”The parties have achieved a meeting of minds on the main principles… subject to conditions which certain of the main parties raised.”
After receiving the submissions, the mediation team would analyse and synthesise them and produce a working document. Using that document as a basis, the negotiations would resume shortly afterwards, Mufamadi said.
”We have encouraged the parties to interact with each other as they prepare their submissions, so they would try to achieve whatever is necessary or possible to balance their interests and those of their negotiating partners…
”We’ll assess the proposals on the basis of whether they are appropriate to give effect to the principles.”
On Tuesday the parties accepted South Africa’s proposed formula for a transitional government. This will allow current President Joseph Kabila to retain that position, with four vice-presidencies.
These will be occupied by the government, two armed rebel groups — the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) and the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) — and the non-armed opposition parties in the DRC.
South African ambassador to the DRC Sisa Ngombane said at the time that one of the outstanding issues was how ministerial portfolios should be allocated.
The MLC has reportedly insisted in the talks that that issue should be cleared up immediately and that it wanted control of the ministry of mining and minerals.
Niasse said that in these type of negotiations, no party could expect that all its conditions would be met.
”The MLC didn’t say: ‘You have to accept all my conditions.”’
Mufamadi said the initial plan was to get the parties to sign a document after they had reached consensus on the main principles and then to proceed to the next phase of talks.
However, due to the meeting between Mbeki, Niasse, Kabila and Rwandese President Paul Kagame on Friday — in which some of the negotiators took part — it was difficult to finalise such a document.
”We felt that signing was not indispensable to us moving forward.”
The final outcome of the negotiations would be submitted to the plenary of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.
On Friday news wire agencies reported an unidentified military source as saying a mutiny had occurred at a military training centre near Kinshasa on Thursday, and that many mutineers had died at the hands of Angolan troops.
Neither Niasse nor Mufamadi could confirm the mutiny.
Mufamadi said the success achieved in the negotiations was aimed at ensuring that the situation in the DRC did not deteriorate any further.
”The situation has to improve. What we do are the ingredients of improvement. What has happened will send a signal to the participants to move with speed. Only then will they be able to take joint responsibility for what is happening in the Congo.” – Sapa