Jaunuary 2012- Congolese Women Speak Out:
DR Congo elections open new wounds



DR Congo elections open new wounds

The Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila's victory is fragile and contested.

The DR Congo's November 28, 2011 national elections were marred by widespread mismanagement and fraud. The organization and technical aspect of these elections were seriously flawed, the vote tabulation lacked transparency, and not on par with positive gains in the democratic process.

The vote was plagued by chaotic management and reports of localised violence and rigging, including voter intimidation and pre-marked ballots in favour of Kabila. International observers, including from the EU and the Carter Centre, reported widespread irregularities, and have stated that Congo’s elections lack credibility. Most of these observers were in major cities and missed the worst abuses in the remote areas. Most significantly, the electoral commission has refused to publish results by polling station, which would permit their verification by opposition parties and observers. There was clear evidence that results were fiddled behind closed doors.

Congo’s electoral chaos reflects the country’s broader lack of democratic and institutional development since 2006. But they also stem from weak international and continental engagement. Despite reports by the UN Joint Human Rights Office of human rights violations during the campaign, the UN mission, MONUSCO, has been reluctant to criticise openly the government and the electoral authorities. MONUSCO has also apparently failed from providing the good offices envisaged in its Security Council mandate; a vital role given the opposition’s lack of confidence in Congolese institutions. Donors too, especially the EU and the UK, who partly funded the polls, and the U.S. have been largely ineffective in preventing Kabila’s consolidation of power.

Results confirming Mr. Kabila as presidential election winner have sparked opposition protests that, in turn, prompted heavy-handed repression by the government security forces and wider disorder. Beyond the immediate danger of rejected results and escalated violence, a president with an illegitimate mandate poses a serious threat to the country’s peace and security.

Therefore, only a leader in whom Congolese people have put their trust and who has been voted massively can possibly resolve the country’s multiple problems.
Millions of Congolese voted hoping for a change of leadership that will improve their living conditions. However, the playing field was gradually skewed towards incumbent president Joseph Kabila. Constitutional changes dropped the requirement for a run-off. Kabila loyalists were appointed to the election commission and the Supreme Court, which settles electoral disputes. There were numerous discrepancies in registration figures.

Nonetheless, considerably less popular than when he won the 2006 elections, Mr Kabila faced stiff competition, especially from veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. With another candidate, Vital Kamerhe, threatening to undermine Kabila’s votes in eastern Congo, hence, the president’s re-election was far from secure.

Furthermore, Congolese people have rejected Kabila who has done nothing for them during the last 10 years; he has failed to fulfil any of his promises. None of his five development programs has been carried out. Ordinary Congolese people live on 0.30 pences/per day. Mr Kabila has brought the country to its knees in the ten years he has been in power at a faster rate than President Mobutu had done in his thirty-two year reign. The DR Congo is ranked second to the latest poorest country in the world despite its massive wealth.

President Kabila has actually sold off the mining resources of Congo, bringing down the state owned companies, in particular the MIBA, which has the immense diamond mines in Kasai, and Gécamines, which has layers in Katanga according to Eric Joyce MP very precise report, creating a hole in the budget of more than five billion dollars in hardly five years, is as much as the plundering organized by Mobutu in 32 years of kleptocratic regime! He has struggled to control marauding rebel groups in Congo's east despite U.N. backing.

A sense of apprehension now hangs over Congo. A brutal crackdown by the security forces against opposition protesters has already claimed hundreds of innocent lives, and hundreds injured. The arrival of reinforcements from the presidential guard to military camps on the outskirts of the capital and the removal of certain officers are ominous signs.

Leaders of the Catholic Church, which deployed some 30,000 observers, more than any other group during the election, have expressed their disagreement with the results as published by the CENI, and after the final result proclaiming Mr Kabila as the winner of the presidential election, Cardinal Mosengo of the Catholic Church, publicly declared that Mr Tshisekedi won the presidential election, not Mr Kabila.

The electoral commission results proclaiming Kabila winner, inspire less confidence, given the body’s partisanship and widespread irregularities. Opposition politicians have rejected them out of hand. The Supreme Court which should resolve disputes is also stuffed with Kabila loyalists. Congolese people are likely taking their grievances to the streets. The scale of bloodshed is difficult to predict: Kinshasa will bear the brunt of clashes, but violence could explode in other provinces.

Urgent international and regional action is needed both to rescue the elections and to persuade Congolese government to refrain from violence. Widespread technical flaws and deliberate dodging make genuine results difficult, while Kabila’s expression of democratic institutions leaves few avenues for elites to resolve disputes peacefully.

The DRC is poised on the edge. On November 28, there was an overwhelming voter turnout, particularly among women and youth voting for the first time. On Election Day, Congolese people showed their determination to have their voices heard, but it has become clear that the institutions of the Congolese state have failed the Congolese people. The international community must work with the Congolese to find a way back towards democracy and away from violence.

The potential for large-scale violence grows by the day. This electoral process was not credible, and as such the broader international community should not recognize its results. A major diplomatic initiative is necessary to prevent a new Congolese conflict and targeted attacks on the basis of political party affiliation.

DR Congo troops killed civilians after vote

Since Joseph Kabila was declared the winner of the presidential election, security forces fired on crowds, apparently to prevent the holding of demonstrations against the election result. These bloody maneuvers contribute to weaken the electoral process and give the impression that the government will stop at nothing to stay in power. It seems that the police and other security forces mask the extent murders quickly removing the bodies. The government has instructed hospitals and morgues to not provide information about the deaths or details of the individuals shot and injured. Some families have found the bodies of their loved ones in mortuaries located far from the city, suggesting that the bodies are transported into remote areas.

The fact that security forces are opening fire without any qualms on peaceful demonstrators and passers illustrates how far the government is able to go to silence dissenting voices. Hence, we’re extremely concerned about the distressing situation that the poor civilians face every day, with tanks and heavily armed soldiers who do not speak any local languages patrol the streets day and night, massacring anybody who’d stand on their way.

Failed state: Can DR Congo recover?

Congolese people expect very little from Mr Kabila and his government. In fact, ordinary Congolese often repeat expressions like "the state is dying but not yet dead" or "the state is ever present but completely useless".

The DR Congo is indeed a failed state. Ordinary citizens are poor, hungry and under-informed. The government is unable to provide decent education or health services. The country, two-thirds of the size of Western Europe is a battleground.

The citizens of DR Congo plead to be delivered from Kabila oppressive and suppressive regime, and brutal militias that still control parts of the eastern provinces, and are now spreading all over the country, where rape has become so commonplace that one senior UN official called the country "the rape capital of the world".

DR Congo, two-thirds the size of Western Europe is headed for a period of institutional sluggishness and isolation in the West. Kabila and his entourage are likely to continue pillaging the country's resources.

Mr. Tshisekedi’s capacity to badger Kabila cannot be underestimated. Most of the country could follow him, putting pressure on the central government's capacity to levy taxes and control territory, blemishing the DR Congo’s reputation nationally and internationally.
Mr Tshisekedi destabilized ex-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the early 1990s by organizing peaceful Christian marches and general strikes, earning himself the nickname Moses. People saw him as a saviour. He is not going to bow down to ‘Kabila’ or be shoehorned into a power-sharing arrangement.

Imagine President Barack Obama being persona non grata in Washington DC. That is Kabila situation in the city that is the seat of the country's institutions. The risk of an even worse investment climate also weakens Kabila. Tshisekedi is also stubborn and unpredictable.

This explains why Western diplomats and businessmen actually prefer to have Kabila wearing the emperor's clothes. As the stalemate drags on, Congolese people continue to pay the price.

Today’s crisis shall not surprise careful Congo observers, resulting as it did in part from the quiet disengagement over recent years of international and regional actors. Now, however, they need to engage again, and quickly. It is important, that in this crucial moment, the UK acts. It goes for the future of Congo and the future of UK relationship with the African country more populated, called to becoming, if well managed, a development pole for Africa and economic expansion for Europe. As Mr Henry Bellingham once declared;

‘There would never be a stable Africa, without a stable DRC.’

Tension remained high after November's flawed presidential and parliamentary elections. Continued violence and repression by security forces have claimed hundreds lives. Incumbent president Joseph Kabila was sworn in for a second term on 20 December, despite international observers finding that the results "lacked credibility". Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who was massively voted by Congolese people, continues to contest the vote. Kabila's dubious mandate bodes ill for the country's peace and security, especially if legislative polls throw up a pliant parliament.

Violence brings reward in the DRC

Former rebels have been promoted to senior posts in Democratic Republic of Congo's military in return for supporting President Joseph Kabila's re-election effort, the United Nations said in a report on Friday.

Once again, the very people who orchestrated and perpetrated horrific human right abuses, killing, systematic mass-rapes, looting, extortions, and plundering of our minerals and are still doing it have been promoted in higher ranking within the Congolese army in total impunity.

MONUSCO and the United Nations are accountable for the unimaginable crimes and unspeakable atrocities that are committed in the DR Congo during their mandate.
Congolese in the Diaspora have responded with universal outrage and have taken to the streets throughout the globe. Demonstrations have occurred in London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Washington and numerous other cities around the world.

The central demand of the demonstrations is that the will of the Congolese people be respected. Congolese in the Diaspora have voiced the frustrations and concerns of their countrymen and women. The Congolese population inside the country has been under a military clamp-down with tanks in the streets, omnipresent security forces, SMS shut down (a major tool of communication for Congolese), and opposition television shuttered.

Moreover, the Kabila regime has already demonstrated a willingness to use its armed and security forces to fire on unarmed civilians and round-up disappear civilians.

The best option to rescue the country from a descent into a deeper crisis is the activation of a national mediation mechanism supported by the international community (Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Union (AU), European Union, UN and US).

However, political will on the part of the political class to prioritize the people's interests over partisan interests is a necessary prerequisite for this option to be successful.

In addition to domestic pressure, ‘Kabila' and his circle are experiencing intense international pressure; the EU has said it will re-evaluate its cooperation with the DR Congo and make judgments based on how the political crisis unfolds and Mme Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund said she is following the situation in the Congo with a particular focus on the rule of law and the political climate, especially the pre and post-electoral periods.

The DR Congo is at a critical juncture in its tenuous march towards peace and stability. The Kabila regime suffers from a severe crisis of legitimacy and the future of the democratic project is in the balance. Stability will be fleeting without legitimacy.

What is at stake in the Congo is not merely an election but respect for the will of a people and the future of democracy in the heart of Africa.
After criticisms and challenges around the presidential election in the DR Congo, now comes the time for the legislative’s results. Organized the same day as the presidential election, the legislative have the same polemics: anarchic organization, irregularities and massive fraud.

Following pressure from the international community, counting operations have been suspended pending the arrival of international experts, but NGOs are still concerned about the lack of transparency. The legislative vote is also tainted as well as the presidential ones.

In addition to national issues, there are also local issues in light of the legislative; massive fraud with provincial governors taking the matter in hands, by setting up the list of winners as they want. The legislative seem to be more complex and more challenging, ethnic factors also played an important role.

International observers have noticed more irregularities in this election: fictitious polling stations, voters registered several times, ballot papers lost, minutes from the polling stations misplaced, numerous pressures on the Electoral Commission (CENI) staff. And series arrests of the CENI staff, accused of helping one or the other camp.

The poor preparations of the elections have very tainted the election process and have reduced the poll trust and credibility.

Would the international expertise and technical support be sufficient to restore credibility to the results of the Congolese Electoral Commission? I DON’T THINK SO.

Firstly, by questioning the legislative election regularity, it’d mean questioning the presidential as well, because they took place the same day and within the same environment. Most of all, the Congolese government is strongly unwilling to jeopardize ‘Kabila’ re-election. Second difficulty: the extended massive of irregularities and fraud.

The level of the disorder was such, that it makes any audit attempt problematic even impossible.
The DR Congo, second largest countries in Africa, and most populated, known for its vast mineral wealth is at the crossroads. Presidential elections held on November 28 have proved to be an openly electoral fraud. Since ‘Kabila’ dishonest re-election, minions of his Western sponsors are going on, arbitrary arrests of political opponents and police violence against demonstrators.

If the DRC is known since 1996 as a permanent state of war, it is mostly because of its mining resources coveted by neighbouring countries but especially by the major powers like the US, France, England, China, and Canada. In the current context of the world economic crisis, control over raw materials is fundamental.

The natural wealth of this country is its curse: all observers of the Great Lakes region of Africa emphasizes that the wars in the Great Lakes are resource wars.

Two Canadians in their book "Black Canada, looting and corruption in Africa” showed that multinational companies located in Canada and Virgin Islands funded and supported the aggression war of the DR Congo by Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda for the control of the resources.

Carnage of unprecedented violence is given very little attention in the West. Yet, despite the publication of the UN four reports on the looting of the DRC wealth, no multinational company nor country looter has ever been prosecuted...

Chaos is a strategy and according to several observers, there is a plan of the Balkanization of this great country, to better control its natural resources...

However, Congolese people have decided to react. After fifteen years of chaos, wars, massacres, rapes and looting, nearly ten six million deaths, Congolese have decided to take their destiny in their hands to put an end to this tragedy.
Congo’s election is already a political failure; the challenge now is to prevent it from triggering a humanitarian catastrophe.

Victoria Dove Dimandja - Congolese Human Right Campaigner
Liberation Congolese Women Group