President Joseph Kabila named the members of the new government led by Prime Minister Matata Ponyo on Saturday. The new cabinet will have thirty six members, including two deputy prime ministers, twenty five ministers, one minister-delegate and eight deputy ministers.

President Joseph Kabila named former finance minister Matata Ponyo as the new prime minister on Wednesday. Known as a technocrat, Mr. Ponyo oversaw a 7 percent economic growth in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010 and a $12.3 billion debt cancellation. The World Bank said last week it expects the same growth rate in DR Congo for the next two years.

Contrary to wire reports widely circulated in the international media, President Joseph Kabila did not call for the immediate arrest of renegade General Bosco Ntaganda during a meeting with civil society leaders in North Kivu Province on Wednesday.

President Joseph Kabila held a two-hour meeting with army officers based in North and South Kivu provinces on Tuesday to insist on military discipline and cohesion.

President Joseph Kabila and the Congolese Army Chief of Staff, General Didier Etumba, arrived in Goma on Monday to deal with the security threat posed by the defections of former rebels integrated in the army under a peace deal.

Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito tendered his resignation to President Joseph Kabila on Tuesday. The procedural move will allow President Kabila to form a new government following the Nov. 28 presidential and parliamentary elections, Mr. Muzito told reporters after the meeting.

Opposition supporters calling themselves “fighters” have intensified attacks against Congolese officials travelling abroad. Katanga Province Governor Moise Katumbi is the latest in a string of officials who have come under attack from the so-called “Patriots-Combatants”.

Information Minister Lambert Mende told a news conference on Tuesday that the door for dialogue with opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi remains open.

A private jet belonging to former Katanga Province governor Katumba Mwanke crashed at 1pm on Sunday near the airport of Bukavu, South Kivu Province. According to state radio and television broadcaster RTNC, Katumba Mwanke, the pilot, and the copilot were killed.

Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo has been invited by Pope Benedict XVI to lead this year’s Lenten exercises in the Vatican. The Congolese Conference of Catholic Bishops (CENCO) announced on Friday that Cardinal Monsengwo will preach to the Pope and the Roman Curia during the weeklong spiritual exercises.