DR Congo announces new govt 7 months after president inaugurated
The Democratic Republic of Congo announced a coalition government Monday, seven months after the inauguration of new President Felix Tshisekedi.
"The government is finally here. The president has signed the decree and we will begin work soon," Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga told reporters before the members of the new government were announced by the presidency's spokesman.
The power-sharing agreement will see 23 members of the executive drawn from Tshisekedi's Direction For Change, and the remaining 42 from former president Joseph Kabila's Common Front for Congo.
Kabila presided over sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country for nearly two decades and still commands widespread support.
Forming the coalition had taken time as both sides had to "remove everything that could be an obstacle to the functioning of the government", said Ilunga.
The executive will have a female vice prime minister, minister for foreign affairs and minister for planning, Ilunga said.
Around three-quarters of members were serving in government for the first time, he added, hailing this as an "important innovation".
Tshisekedi emerged victorious in elections that marked the Democratic Republic of Congo's first peaceful transition of power since the mineral-rich nation gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
The unstable country's politics remain overshadowed by Kabila, who amassed extensive clout after 18 years in power.
South African kidnapped in DRC: army
The incident occurred on Friday morning in the province of South Kivu which borders the neighbouring countries of Rwanda and Burundi. "The Banro officials were ambushed by armed bandits on Friday at 10:30 am (0830 GMT) between Salamabila and Kitindi in the Maniema region," Captain Dieudonne Kasereka, regional army spokesman, told AFP, adding that it was in an area where rebel militias operated.