DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: New government named after landmark elections last year aimed at ending decades of chaos and warfare

Record ID: 454648

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: New government named after landmark elections last year aimed at ending decades of chaos and warfare
  • Date: 7th February 2007
  • Summary: KINSHASA, DRC (FEBRUARY 6, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPERS SPREAD ON THE SIDEWALK AND PEOPLE READING THEM NEWSPAPER TITLES ANNOUNCING THE NEW GOVERNMENT, SAYING IN FRENCH: "The government is finally here", "More than 30 days for consulting"
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3ERJNSQRB74T2KSS79AA47BOT
  • Story Text: Residents of Kinshasa on Monday (February 5, 2007) listened to announcements made on local television naming a new government after landmark elections last year brought an end to decades of chaos and warfare.
    After weeks of delays, a decree read out on state television named the new government of Antoine Gizenga, an opposition veteran appointed prime minister in December by President Joseph Kabila. The government faces a huge challenge in rebuilding a country devastated by decades of kleptocracy under late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko -- whose son was named a minister in the new government -- and then by years of war and violence.
    Gizenga, 81, came third in a presidential election last year and threw his weight behind the incumbent Kabila in a run-off against former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, whose fighters clashed with Kabila's soldiers in the capital Kinshasa twice during the tense electoral period.
    Mobutu's son Francois Joseph Mobutu Nzanga, who finished fourth, was named minister of state for agriculture in the new government.
    The new government kept some ministers, such as Denis Kalume who retained the interior portfolio as minister of state, and brought in figures from parties which backed Kabila through the elections.
    Congo is as big as Western Europe and control of its huge reserves of copper, cobalt, gold, diamonds and many other minerals was a major factor in a 1998-2003 war that drew in six foreign armies.
    The war sparked a humanitarian crisis that has killed an estimated 4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.
    Fighting continues in eastern areas, where ethnic militia still operate despite the presence of the world's biggest international peacekeeping force.
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