Citation
KINSHASA, April 8 (Reuter) - Zaire's transitional parliament passed a
new constitution on Friday after weeks of wrangling between supporters
and opponents of President Mobutu Sese Seko.
All's well that ends well,
Archbishop Monsengwo Pasinya, the
assembly's chairman, told foreign diplomats, businessmen and deputies
gathered in the People's Palace. The transitional act is now ready to
be promulgated.
The ceremony came not a moment too soon. Monsengwo, who has played a
crucial role in the successful adoption of the act, was due to leave on
Friday night for Rome, where he will attend the first African synod.
There was a palpable sense of relief in the hall that the act had
finally been passed. But political analysts agreed that the real issues
still remained to be settled.
The Sacred Union opposition coalition, which last week walked out
during a debate on the key article 76 dealing with the prime minister's
election, was back in parliament after several of its suggestions were
incorporated in the final text.
As now drafted, the newly-numbered article 78 stipulates that the
premier must come from outside the presidential camp, gives Mobutu's
supporters a purely consultative role in the choice, and sets a 10-day
deadline for agreement on a candidate once Mobutu has promulgated the
act.
By dropping a clause which defined the prime minister as being elected
by the national conference
, the opposition has implicitly accepted
that the prime minister's post is vacant, a step they swore they would
never take.
That represents a major challenge to hardline opposition leader Etienne
Tshisekedi, who was elected prime minister by the national conference
in 1992 but was later fired by Mobutu.
He maintains he is Zaire's rightful premier and has refused on
principle to stand against alternative opposition candidates waiting in
the wings.
The issue of the premiership is already in danger of splintering the
opposition, dividing radicals from moderates.
The Sacred Union on Wednesday expelled one of its three anchor parties,
the centrist UDI, accusing it of selling out the national conference.
Kengo wa Dondo, the man tipped as Tshisekedi's most likely replacement,
is a member of the UDI.
Before closing the session, Archbishop Monsengwo delivered a bleak
speech in which he listed Zaire's chronic social problems, ranging from
soaring inflation to crumbling industrial facilities and the huge
divide separating the masses from the country's cossetted elite.
Calling a minute's silence for the victims of the recent killings in
neighbouring Rwanda, he reminded the audience that Zaire could go the
same way if no political progress was made.
This country has enough orphans, widows and handicapped from its
previous wars...dialogue remains the only way to settle conflicts,
he
said.
(c) Reuters Limited 1994
