Democratic Republic of Congo leaders settle differences

[XXPANTHAXX]

Jean-Pierre Bemba, former Congolese rebel turned vice-
president under plans to bring peace to the Democratic
Republic of Congo, said he had straightened out differences
between him and DRC President Joseph Kabila.

"I was able to smooth out divergences between the head of
state and myself," he said after a three-hour meeting with
Kabila.

Bemba, head of the former rebel movement Congo Liberation
Movement (MLC), is now one of four vice-presidents under
Kabila under a peace accord ending five years of civil war in
the vast central African state.

He had earlier warned he would quit the government by January
31 if no progress was made in distributing top military and
civilian jobs ahead of planned elections in June.

"We were able to harmonize our viewpoints and divergences on
all the questions necessary to advance the transition," Bemba
said.

"We have come to a good understanding, President Kabila and
I."

But he declined to answer a question about the fate of former
Public Works Minister Jose Endundo Bononge, also an MLC man,
who was fired this month along with five others for alleged
corruption.

Bemba had at first insisted that Endundo remain in the
government.

Speaking in the Gabonese capital Libreville on Wednesday,
Bemba accused Kabila of bad faith in the implementation of a
2002 accord signed by the warring parties to end the conflict
in the former Zaire.

"If progress is made by January 31, we will again support the
transition. But we will not be complicit in the postponement
of elections or elections on the cheap," he said.

Earlier this week Kabila's government had suspended two
television channels and a radio station belonging to Bemba
for carrying contentious comments about the president by
sacked transport minister Joseph Olengankoy.

The government on Friday allowed the TV and radio stations
back on the air.

The spat came ahead of a return to Kinshasa next Tuesday by
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is to meet Kabila
and other leaders to try to advance the peace process.

South Africa is pressing for elections to be held in June in
line with the peace accord.