DRC: Ministers from former rebel movements take oath of office

Transitional government officials designated by the two principal former rebel movements in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) took their oath of office on Thursday in the capital, Kinshasa, after a modification was made in the pledge of allegiance. Fourteen ministers and eight vice-ministers from the two groups - the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) and the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) - had refused to take the oath of office on Friday because it required a pledge of allegiance to President Joseph Kabila, but not to the institutions and laws of the country.