DRC: Bishops hopeful remaining parties will sign peace deal

Bishops leading political negotiations with political leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are optimistic every stakeholder will agree to sign a deal that will pave the way for the first ever peaceful transition of power in the country.

Their efforts seem to be bearing fruits, after parties who had initially refused to sign the agreement assured that they will sign it. Congo National Liberation Movement’s secretary general Eve Bazaiba assured the signature on Thursday.

The party, MLS, had refuse to sign the deal that was brokered on the eve of the new yer by the bishops. The deal sketches a timetable under which Kabila will stay in office before new elections are held late 2017.

On January 4, the Catholic Church’s National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) resumed its work, and have been receiving every political actor of the opposition currently part of the transitional government but who so far has refused to sign the new deal, according to the IB Times

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