DR Congo opposition meets in Brussels to push for unity bid

About 100 opposition delegates from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, at the invitation of Etienne Tshisekedi, the president of Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the party spokesman Bruno Bashala said Tuesday.

"The Brussels meeting is aimed at uniting the change forces in the country. The elections and political dialogue convened by President Joseph Kabila will also be on the agenda," Tshibala said in Kinshasa.

"Our country is going through a serious crisis. President Tshisekedi has taken the initiative of convening all political and social forces working for change to reflect on the manner and strategy for ending the chaos," the UDPS spokesman added.

He said the participants will reflect on the manner of ending the crisis "through political dialogue," and that at the end of the meeting, Tshisekedi will take a position on the "issues and list of participants to be submitted to the facilitator."

Differences persist within the opposition regarding the issue of political dialogue in DR Congo.

UDPS which supports the dialogue process, has for several weeks said it would submit the list of its representatives to the dialogue preparatory committee.

On Monday, the United Nations, European Union, African Union and the International Organization of the Francophonie agreed to put in place a group to support the facilitation of the dialogue. Putting in place of such a structure are some of the preconditions for UDPS to take part in dialogue. Endit