5 January 2005
Kinshasa — Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has sacked six ministers, who were suspended following an investigation into charges of widespread corruption, and replaced five others in a wide-ranging government reshuffle.
An announcement on state television late on Monday said the ministers of mines, energy, trade, transport and higher education had been replaced. The public works minister was sacked but no replacement has been announced yet.
All six ministers were suspended by Kabila in November, along with the heads of 12 state-owned companies, after they were named in an investigation probing reports of rampant financial malpractice in the transitional government due to lead the mineral-rich country to elections this year.
The ministers of defence and economy were also replaced in the reshuffle. Both members of the former rebel RCD-Goma movement, they had fallen out with the party's leadership during months of internal wrangling.
The new defence minister, Adolphe Onusumba, is one of the RCD leaders in Congo's five-year war, while the economy portfolio went to a little-known RCD official, Floribert Bokanga.
Three other ministers - of labour, social affairs and health - were also removed from their positions.
Congo's transitional government was set up in June 2003, bringing together former belligerents, the political opposition and representatives from civil society. Kabila has four vice-presidents and the government comprises 36 ministries.
Mistrust among the war's former foes runs high and Kabila's administration has had a hard time trying to stamp its authority across the vast central African country and particularly in the east, where a plethora of armed groups still holds sway.
An international aid agency said last month that the festering conflict was killing 1000 Congolese every day, mostly from hunger and disease, on top of the 3,8-million that have died since the war began in 1998.
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