From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Zaire, national conference to resume
Date: 12 Apr 92 21:27:53 GMT

/* Written  1:05 pm  Apr 10, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "ZAIRE: NATIONAL CONFERENCE TO RESUM" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ZAIRE: NATIONAL CONFERENCE TO RESUME THURSDAY


kinshasa, apr 7 (ips/louis okamba) -- zaire's national
conference aiming at bringing democratic reform in the country
has been suspended till thursday, it was announced here tuesday.

according to official sources, the suspension would allow a
a committee working out modalities of the conference to draft a
code of conduct for the rest of the session.

the 60-member committee includes the three components of
the national conference, namely, civil society, public
institutions and political parties, the sources told ips.

members of the committee are no longer elected by vote as
was the practice during the plenary sessions before jan. 19 when
the government of prime minister jean nguza karl i bond
unilaterally suspended the conference.

for the first time members of the ''provisional bureau of the
national conference'' were elected by consensus. this means
public institutions, civil society and political parties appoint
their representatives by agreement.

analysts here see the new procedure as the result of the apr.
5 meeting in mbadaka in northern zaire between president mobutu
sese seko, archbishop laurent monsengwo pasinya, delegations of
political parties and the government.

at the meeting, mobutu said he hoped the national interest
would be placed above personal interest.

at the reopening of the conference monday, its chair,
archbishop monsengwo pasinya, called on all the participants to
''bear in mind first of all the interests of zaire''.

''you have witnessed the sacrifices that the people have made
in spite of the numerable obstacles during the course of our
discussisons,'' the catholic prelate said.

''we appreciate the moral and material support that you have
given us,'' he added.

monsengwo deplored the delays in the democratisation process
in zaire and said he hoped the national conference would be
historic and self-critical and ''draw lessons from and avoid the
errors of the third (present) republic''.

this, the archbishop said, did not mean getting bogged in the
past, but looking to the future by gaining inspiration from the
present. (more/ips)


zaire: national (2)

the bishop also called on the 1,689 delegates to ''banish
hatred'' amongst themselves as representatives of the country's
35.6 million people.

he said delays experienced by the conference were due to two
principal factors.

firstly, the absence of a consensus on the objectives of the
conference. some delegates, according to the prelate, feared
they would be removed from power while others thought the
national conference was the place to get into power.

''this confusion led to the defence reflexes and
aggressiveness which in turn delayed the democratisation process
in our country,'' he explained.

the second factor was the lack of peace, characterised by
intolerance.

he emphasised that the people would be waiting ''hopefully''
for the outcome of the conference and would not, therefore,
accept ''sluggish behaviour'' by the national conference.

''we expect dignified behaviour to avoid contagious
reactions,'' he said.

for the conference to proceed ''harmoniously'', monsengwo
proposed the creation of three committees: one in charge of
working modalities of the inner workings of the conference, the
second charged with proposing the objectives, and third in
charge of arbitration.

the radical sacred union mar. 23 issued a nine-point
document, demanding the unconditional resumption of the national
conference.

the national conference, the sacred union said, must be
''truly sovereign'' and mark the end of mobutu's power, which
expired dec. 14. (end/ips/lo/tvh/apc/ar/92)