New constitution for DRC
2005-05-17 12:33
Kinshasa - The legislature officially ratified the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) new constitution on Monday, moving the nation a step closer to elections and reconciliation after nearly four decades of dictatorship and war.
The central African giant made the charter adopted on Friday official on Monday in a ceremony attended by Congolese leaders and international figures, including President Thabo Mbeki — who helped broker peace deals that ended the DRC's 1998-2003 war.
Under the new constitution, presidential and parliamentary elections must now be held by June 2006 — Congo's first balloting in nearly 40 years.
President Laurent Kabila promised in an address the vote would go ahead, but didn't make the anxiously awaited announcement of a firm date.
"The irreversible step toward elections has been taken," said Kabila. "This train is moving. Elections will really take place."
Monday's ceremony came on the eve of the anniversary of former rebel leader Laurent Kabila's 1997 march into Congo's capital, Kinshasa — a thrust officially ending Cold War-era dictator Mobutu Sese Seko's deeply corrupt and ruinous three-decade rule.
Laurent Kabila, who became president, was assassinated by his own bodyguard in 2001, thrusting his son Joseph Kabila into power.
The new constitution replaces a transitional constitution adopted in South Africa in 2002 under Mbeki's tutelage that ended a years-long war against the younger Kabila's government that began in 1998. Kabila now leads a power-sharing administration that includes former warring parties.
Congo's transitional government is attempting to piece the country back together after the latest war — a conflict aid groups say killed nearly four million people, mostly through hunger and sickness.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomes the adoption of the DRC's new constitution and looks forward to the draft being put to a popular referendum "in the shortest possible time," UN spokesperson Fred Eckhard said.
Annan urged the transitional government to continue taking concrete steps towards free and fair elections. He noted "with satisfaction the progress made recently in technical preparations for the upcoming presidential, parliamentary and local elections," Eckhard said.
The new charter must be put to a national referendum within six months for popular certification. The constitution mandates presidential elections by June 2006, and lowers the minimum age for candidates from 35 to 30 — allowing Kabila, 33, to seek re-election.
The new, 226-article constitution also gives a president up to two five-year terms in office, and promises free primary education to all children.
- AP