DR Congo plans to complete army reorganization by year-end

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has set Dec. 31 as the deadline for the country to finish the reorganization of its national army, a senior UN official announced here Saturday.

President Joseph Kabila and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba have agreed on the deadline for the completion of the army's reorganization process, according to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy to the DRC, William Lacy Swing.

Kabila and Bemba will go head-to-head in the upcoming second round of the presidential election on Oct. 29.

Swing expressed satisfaction with the agreement reached between the two rival camps.

On the same day, supporters of both politicians signed a statement, pledging to make Kinshasa a weapons-free city in a joint step to ensure security for the upcoming runoff and defuse any possible flare-up of violence between the two sides.

Swing also expressed support for the reorganization of Kabila's first Republic Guards battalion into the unified national army.

Last week, Defense Minister Adolphe Onusumba announced that the first Republic Guards battalion of the National Army Forces in the DRC (FARDC) had finished a three-month training and integration program with the help of the international community.

But Onusumba said the current military integration was insufficient as the FARDC now has only 14 integrated brigades while more than 80,000 militias are still controlled by different armed political groups in the country.

Source: Xinhua