Court decision paves way for Burundi-style chaos in DR Congo - analysts
This file photo taken on February 3, 2015 shows the Democratic Republic of the Congo's President Joseph Kabila attending a training session of his country's football team in Bata. DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila, who is constitutionally barred from running for a new term, can remain in office even if no election takes place before his mandate expires at the end of 2016, the Constitutional Court said on May 10, 2016. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
Opposition accuses govt of pursuing an agenda of glissement (“slippage”), allowing elections to be postponed while preparing to change the law in favour of Kabila.
The electoral commission said in January that it would take at least 13 months to update voter lists ahead of the poll, pushing any election into 2017.
If Kabila tries try to amend the constitution, DR Congo could go the Burundi way, according to Ahmed Salim, an analyst at political risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence.
KINSHASA, Saturday
The decision to allow Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila to remain in power if November elections are delayed has thrown the country into confusion.
It paves the way for Kabila — who took over after his father Laurent Kabila was killed in 2001 — to make a bid for a third term in power in the mineral-rich vast country.
Constitutional court president Benoit Lwamba Bindu said on Wednesday that the law “permits the president of the republic... to remain in office until the installation of the new leader,” Reuters reported.
Kabila’s government has already dropped hints that the elections were likely to be delayed, although the president himself has not declared if he would want to remain in power.
The electoral commission said in January that it would take at least 13 months to update voter lists ahead of the poll, pushing any election into 2017.
The opposition accuses the government of pursuing an agenda of glissement (“slippage”), allowing elections to be postponed while preparing to change the law in favour of Kabila.
POLITICAL CONFLICT
If Kabila tries try to amend the constitution, DR Congo could go the Burundi way, according to Ahmed Salim, an analyst at political risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence.
Burundi was plunged into violence in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he was running for a third term. More than 430 people have been killed since then and almost a quarter a million exiled.
“It’s just a volatile situation in the DR Congo,” said Salim. “We may have a perfect storm of events that may destabilise the economy as well as the political outlook for the country.”
Kabila’s political opponents criticised the ruling, saying the president staying in power would constitute a coup.
DR Congo has been ravaged by conflict in recent years, with the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003 classified by the International Rescue Committee as the deadliest conflict since WWII, with 45,000 people being killed in a month.
Fighting continues in the east of the country where a plethora of armed groups are battling for power.
