Kabila pledges to turn recommendations of national dialogue into policies

Congo's President Joseph Kabila pledged on Saturday to turn the recommendations from three weeks of national dialogue into policies to tackle the central African nation's daunting social, institutional and economic problems, Reuters reported. The talks in the capital Kinshasa were boycotted by some members of opposition political parties, who said they were denied the opportunity to discuss the validity of Kabila's disputed 2011 presidential election triumph. Closing the meetings, Kabila said he would convene a joint session of the two houses of parliament on Thursday to discuss legislation based on the recommendations, which were not made public. Congo ranks bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index. Millions of people have died in eastern Congo from violence, disease and hunger since the 1990s as foreign-backed insurgent groups have fought for control of the region's rich deposits of gold, diamonds and tin.