Reuters - Political rivals in
Democratic Republic of Congo neared a deal on Saturday for President Joseph
Kabila to leave power in 2017 after dozens of people were killed
during
protests this week at the end of his mandate.
Under the agreement,
elections would be held next year and Kabila, who took power in Africa's fourth
most populous country after his father was assassinated in 2001, would agree
not to change the constitution to run for a third term.
Roman Catholic
bishops who have mediated during weeks of talks were upbeat about reaching a
deal in time for a planned signing ceremony on Friday, but Congo's main
opposition bloc warned that several "significant" differences
remained.
"We have
finished practically 95 percent of the work," Catholic Bishops Conference
president Marcel Utembi told reporters. "There remains a short way to
go."
Divisions persisted
over whether the prime minister will come from the main opposition bloc and on
the composition of the electoral commission, which the opposition accuses of
pro-government bias.
"If the
divergences are not bridged, it will be difficult to sign this accord,"
opposition leader Jean Marc Kabund told reporters.
Kabila, whose
representatives participated in the talks, did not comment.
At least 40 people
were killed this week in a crackdown by security forces against demonstrators
who blew whistles and banged pots and pans in protests demanding Kabila leave
office, according to the United Nations.
Kabila's critics
accuse him of deliberately postponing the presidential election that was due
last month in order to cling to power beyond the end of his constitutional
mandate.
The government say
the delay was due to difficulties registering millions of voters and the
constitutional court ruled in May that Kabila could stay in office until his
successor is elected.
Mineral-rich Congo
has not had a peaceful power transition since independence in 1960, and Church
negotiators have billed the talks as an attempt to stop the country sliding
back into war.
Millions of people
died in regional conflicts between 1996 and 2003 and Pope Francis has called
for a peaceful solution to the current standoff.
The last day of the
talks between the ruling coalition and opposition parties began at 11 a.m.
local time (5.00 a.m. ET) after negotiations went through the night.
Remaining issues are
to be resolved in small groups with the support of the church's secretariate
while the bishops return to their dioceses for Christmas, Utembi said.
Reuters
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