A/HRC/4/7 page 5 7. On 22 September, the new National Assembly held its special session to establish a temporary steering committee, verify the mandates of Members of Parliament and adopt the rules of procedure. 8. On 23 September, under pressure from the ICST, an acte d’engagement to make Kinshasa “a weapons-free city” was signed by the representatives of President Joseph Kabila and of Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba. The scope of that commitment was extended to Kisangani on 18 October, and then to Kananga on 13 November 2006. 9. On 25 September, the Congolese National Police (PNC) conducted an arms control mission in Kinshasa, with the support of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and of the peacekeeping force of the European Union (EUFOR). 10. On 16 October 2006, the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) announced that for the scheduled elections (presidential, legislative and provincial) it had compiled and registered a list of 25,603,079 voters throughout the country. 11. On 13 November 2006, Cardinal Frédéric Etsou Bamungwabi, Archbishop of Kinshasa, speaking on Radio France Internationale from Paris, expressed his concern about the work of the CEI and demanded that its chairperson, Abbot Malu Malu, respect the verdict of the ballot box. 12. On 16 November, Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba declared in a television address that he did not accept the provisional results, published by the CEI on 15 November, designating President Kabila as the winner - with 58.05 per cent of the votes - and himself as the loser with 41.95 per cent. He then vowed to “use all legal means to ensure that the people’s voice was heard”. 13. A peace agreement was signed on 29 November in Aveba, about 55 km from Bunia, in Ituri district (eastern region), between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Forces de résistance patriotique de l’Ituri (FRPI) of Cobra Matata, Peter Karim’s Front nationaliste et intégrationniste (FNI) and Mathieu Ngudjolo’s Mouvement révolutionnaire du Congo (MRC), the last militias to be active in the district, which undertook to disarm their fighters and enrol them in the national army. On 24 December, the clashes resumed in Ituri between the forces of Peter Karim and FARDC troops. The hostilities, which went on until 29 December, unfortunately jeopardized the future of the disarmament process. 14. On 27 November, the Supreme Court , through decree RCE 009, rejected the application filed by the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) on 18 November contesting the provisional results published by the CEI on 15 November. 15. The 28 November television message by Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba in which he agreed to lead a strong, democratic and republican opposition contributed significantly to reducing the tension observed in the city of Kinshasa throughout November. 16. The swearing-in of President Joseph Kabila on 6 December 2006 heralded the beginning of a new era in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.