Jean-Pierre Bemba's MLC rejects proposed power-sharing plan

The Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) of Jean-Pierre Bemba has rejected a proposed power-sharing plan whereby a transitional government for the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be headed by a president and four vice-presidents. The decision to reject the new plan was taken in the context of ongoing behind-the-scenes negotiations led by the United Nations special envoy, Moustapha Niasse, who is said to be in his final round of talks with Congolese parties with a view to reaching an all-inclusive agreement during a resumption of the inter-Congolese dialogue, due to take place before the end of the year. The previous dialogue ended on 19 April in Sun City, South Africa, with an alliance formed among the Congolese government of President Joseph Kabila, the MLC, and a majority of representatives from the political opposition and civil society. Under that agreement, Kabila was to have remained president in a new government and Bemba become prime minister in a transitional administration leading to democratic elections. However, the agreement excluded the Rwandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma armed opposition movement, and a number of unarmed political opposition parties. In a statement issued 11 October, MLC Secretary-General Olivier Kamitatu said the new power-sharing (the "1 + 4") proposal "did not respond to the principle of equilibrium, which was indispensable in the search for a non-conflictual solution and an efficient handling of state affairs". Bemba had said any further negotiations must take place under the terms of the Sun City accord. Under the "1 + 4" formula, the influence of the MLC in such a government would be significantly reduced. The announcement was among a number of other decisions taken by the MLC, which also resolved to transform its political/military movement into a purely political movement and to fully integrate its forces with a unified Congolese army. In a statement issued on Monday, the facilitator for the inter-Congolese Dialogue, Botswana former President Ketumile Masire, reported from the Botswanan capital, Gaborone, that he and Niasse had met over the weekend to discuss the special envoy's last four months of shuttle diplomacy to help narrow the differences among the parties to the dialogue. Masire said Niasse told him that "significant progress" had been made, and that he was now on "the fourth and final lap" of his consultations with the Congolese parties. Masire added that Niasse was hopeful that this would soon create the conditions for the conclusion of an all-inclusive inter-Congolese political agreement.