Sunday’s announcement that long-deferred elections will take place in December 2018 in Democratic Republic of Congo is meeting with some hope, confusion and rejection. President Joseph Kabila’s ruling party welcomed the decision in a statement released Monday. The Parti du Peuple pour La Reconstruction et La Democratie (PPRD) acknowledged the…
Congolese opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi says he was prevented Tuesday afternoon from leaving a hotel in Lubumbashi, where he has stayed since the weekend arrest of activists meeting at the headquarters of his Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party. “I am prevented from leaving the hotel to go and…
President Joseph Kabila, whose term as president of Democratic Republic of Congo expired last December, shows no signs of moving toward the delayed presidential elections he has refused to hold. He has shrugged off any commitment to a December 31 power-sharing deal with the country’s Rassemblement political opposition coalition, one…
In a bleak assessment of current conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the influential Roman Catholic bishops have issued a call to Congolese to stand up and, drawing from the language of the nation’s anthem, “build a country more beautiful than today.” “It is imperative to involve ourselves, to…
A spokesman for Democratic Republic of Congo has dismissed the importance of a National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO) bishops’ statement on Friday that said the appointment of Bruno Tshibala as prime minister was a breach of the December 31 political agreement CENCO mediated. Spokesman Lambert Mende told Congolese…
President Joseph Kabila’s plans to appoint a new prime minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo may finally move the nation closer to resolving its political impasse, but not in the eyes of some opposition party members. The decision to name a prime minister – one that Kabila promised to…
Concerned about the apparent failure of the CENCO-mediated political agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States has urged both Congolese government officials and the Rassemblement opposition coalition to redouble their efforts to overcome their disagreements. “The United States is disappointed by lack of progress in implementation of…
The death of longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi on February 1 has left the opposition coalition in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) no choice but to reorganize – a process that in recent days has been contentious enough to cast a shadow on the future of the Rassemblement coalition, at…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
With the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government transition process at a standstill, the African Union (AU) and other international partners said Thursday that all parties to the negotiated December 31 agreement need to return to the ongoing dialogue and begin the formal framework leading to new elections. The AU, along…