DRC set for talks on implementing crisis deal

Opposing sides in the crisis that has gripped DR Congo will this week hold their first talks on implementing a landmark deal on the country’s political future, mediators said on Monday.
“An initial meeting for deciding on ways to implement the agreement is scheduled for Tuesday,” Father Donatien Nshole, the spokesman for National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CECO), which is overseeing the process said.
The hard-fought New Year’s Eve agreement aims at defusing a crisis over the future of President Joseph Kabila.
Under the constitution, the 45-year-old leader should have left office on December 20 at the end of his second and final mandate, but he has shown no signs of wanting to step down.
Scores of people died in clashes in the runup to the deadline, prompting the influential Catholic church to ramp up efforts for a political solution.
Under the deal, Kabila will stay in power until elections are held “at the end of 2017”.