High ranking officers in National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) a rebel movement in the Democratic Republic of Congo, have pledged their loyalty to their leader, General Laurent Nkunda,  and refuted recent claims that he had been overthrown by his Chief of Staff, Gen. Bosco Ntaganda.

Ntaganda had sent a statement to the media on Monday claiming that they had ousted Gen. Nkunda but senior commanding officers of CNDP responded by refuting the claims.

A few hours after Ntaganda announced his toppling of Gen. Nkunda, the Commander’s number two in the military leadership Colonel Sultani Makinga refuted the claims.

"Laurent Nkunda is still chairman of the CNDP. There has not been any leadership change in the movement, the power in CNDP still rests with Nkunda and Gen. Ntaganda does not have the authority to depose the chairman Nkunda.

The CNDP remains one movement and one army” ; Makinga told reporters and added that he did not know why Ntaganda had made the announcement.

Gen. Nkunda has headed the CNDP movement since it was set up in 2006.

Another CNDP high ranking military commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Seraphin Mirindi added his voice in refuting Ntaganda’s claims saying that Gen. Nkunda was still in charge.

In his reaction, Mirindi told media that the movement is not at the service of one individual, "It remains as it was and it is functioning normally.”

To emphasise his point, Mirindi said a rebel delegation had already left for the Kenyan capital Nairobi for another round of UN-brokered peace negotiations to begin today (Wednesday).

Meanwhile, in a separate interview with the media Nkunda said that there is no division within the rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and emphasized that Ntaganda is not CNDP spokesman or chairman.

In reaction to the claims Gen. Nkunda’s spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said those rebel officials saying he had been ousted had committed "high treason”.

"All the institutions and all the organs of the movement remain loyal to Gen. Nkunda. Our leader has not been ousted,” said Bisimwa

He added that Ntaganda’s announcement had no impact on the group’s leadership structure, and negotiators still planned to attend the talks in Kenya.

"If an officer has demands, he must address them to the movement itself and not the media,” he said. "Our disciplinary body is being activated to deal with this situation.”

CNDP’s military high command was expected to meet yesterday in an extraordinary disciplinary meeting to discuss the fate Bosco Ntaganda and Nkunda himself was expected to chair that was scheduled to take place in Rutshuru area of Nord-Kivu, around 60 kilometres north of Goma.

Several media outlets have termed Ntaganda as a radical officer commonly known as ‘Terminator’.

He was offered a senior military post by Kabila’s government in 2004 but refused. Two years later he joined Gen Nkunda.

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