POLITICS-DRC: Bullets, Not Ballots

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Juakali Kambale

KINSHASA, Jun 30 2005 (IPS) - The 45th anniversary of Congo-Kinshasa’s independence from Belgium, Thursday, was supposed to have been the day the country held its first democratic election in over four decades. However, it was teargas and ammunition rather than ballot boxes which many citizens were confronted with.

This came as police sought to disperse thousands who gathered in the capital to protest a Jun. 17 decision to postpone the vote until next year. A number of people are reported to have been killed during the clashes in Kinshasa. Protest-related deaths were also reported in the central town of Tshikapa, and Mbuji-Mayi in south-central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Estimates of the fatalities ranged between one and 12 deaths, with many more people said to have been wounded, and detained.

The Independent Electoral Commission (Commission électorale indépendante, CEI) had asked parliament to delay the poll because of difficulties in organising it.

A six-month postponement of the vote is permitted under the December 2002 agreement that brought an end to five years of civil war in the DRC, ushering in a transitional government that was to have stepped down Thursday. A second and final six-month extension can also be granted if the CEI fails to complete polling arrangements before next year’s vote.

However, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social, UDPS) – the DRC’s main opposition party – is demanding that the administration resign as it was initially supposed to. It called for demonstrations Thursday in support of its position.

"Nothing has changed. Everything will end June 30, 2005, at midnight," said Joseph Mukendi, political advisor to UDPS head Etienne Tshisekedi.

Long time opposition leader Tshisekedi, who does not form part of the transitional government, has also called for a boycott of the voter registration which got underway Jun. 20 in Kinshasa.

The UDPS’ stance reflects a dissatisfaction with government amongst some in the DRC, who reportedly view the slow pace of transition as an attempt by politicians to remain in power. The Kinshasa government has also come under criticism from the international community, which points to the halting integration of government and rebel forces into a national army.

Of the 70 million dollars which the Congolese government promised to fund elections, only four million have been provided to date (while foreign donors have supplied 100 million dollars of the 280 million pledged).

Only recently did parliament endorse a draft constitution that will be used to govern the DRC after elections, and pass a law providing for a national referendum on this constitution Nov. 27.

The UDPS call for a boycott notwithstanding, registration appears to be proceeding briskly in Kinshasa.

"We’re finally beginning to catch a glimmer of these long-awaited elections," Kalonji Mwamba, a teacher registering to vote in Kintambo borough, told IPS.

However, with about 28 million voters who need to be registered, the task facing the CEI is daunting – more so when the country’s lack of infrastructure is considered. Under deceased president Mobutu Sese Seko, roads and railways in the DRC (then Zaire) were allowed to fall into disrepair, even as he looted government coffers for his own enrichment. The DRC’s total population is put at about 60 million.

Matters are complicated still further by the fact that many Congolese voters lack national identity cards, while the documents of others – issued by rebels when they seized control of eastern DRC – no longer have currency in the post-war environment.

In an effort to address these problems, prospective voters can obtain temporary identity documents at registration points if they bring witnesses with them to testify that they are Congolese nationals.

"I think the process is good, and it appears to be proper. Except, having to bring five witnesses from your neighborhood to prove that you are of Congolese nationality is a bit of a problem, because five witnesses are hard to find," said Kinshasa resident Mamina Kaswera.

Earlier this month, Catholic Church leaders in the DRC called on the country’s politicians to act responsibly in the run-up to elections.

"Congo’s bishops condemn all forms of intimidation and violence. They ask all and sundry to fulfill their responsibilities so the transition can come to a successful conclusion and we can hold elections," Monsignor Fulgence Muteba, general secretary of the Episcopal conference, said Jun. 22.

Between 1996 and 2002, the DRC experienced two civil wars – the second the five-year conflict in which almost four million lives were lost, many to disease and hunger.

The 1998/2002 war pitted rebels supported by Rwanda and Uganda against government forces that were backed by Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. Foreign troops stand accused of profiting richly from their involvement in the DRC through exploitation of the country’s natural resources, including gold and diamonds.

Protracted negotiations mediated by South Africa and the United Nations eventually yielded the 2002 accord, signed at northern South African resort of Sun City.

Under this agreement, rebels were given posts in a power-sharing, transitional government headed by Joseph Kabila – son of former president Laurent Kabila who unseated Mobutu in 1997, only to be assassinated four years later.