United Nations Security Council votes on draft resolution to extend the mandate of the UN stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for another year, UN HQ,New York. March 27, 2018. Li Muzi\/Press Association. All rights reserved.As a fresh wave of civil unrest engulfs the Democratic Republic of
\nCongo, the nation\u2019s government unveiled late last month a new electronic voting
\nmachine which it claims will be instrumental in carrying out this year\u2019s
\npresidential elections, booked in for December 23. <\/i><\/p>\n
However, critics fear that incumbent president Joseph Kabila \u2013 whose
\nterm was officially over in November 2016 and who had promised to hold
\nelections late last year \u2013 is simply using the machines as a ruse to further
\ndelay votes, with the ultimate goal of maintaining power indefinitely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Against the backdrop of increasingly violent and vocal civil unrest, the
\nIndependent National Electoral Commission (CENI) introduced domestic and
\ninternational journalists to a new electronic voting machine, which it
\nmaintains is indispensable to meeting its target of the December 23
\nelections.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet critics are concerned that these machines are just another
\nbait-and-switch to allow Kabila to postpone elections further \u2013 or worse, to
\nmanipulate the voting. Indeed, shortly after they were unveiled, the machines,
\nwhich had been imported from South Korea, broke down when they were being
\npresented to a parliamentary commission in Kinshasa.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, it is estimated that 60,000 of the devices will be needed
\nto service a country two-thirds the size of western Europe. Ahead of election
\nday, more than half a million electoral agents will need to assist with their
\ndeployment, along with efforts to update the electoral roll. What\u2019s more, the
\nmachines operate only in French \u2013 not in any of the nation\u2019s four other
\nofficial languages. These obstacles alone could end up as convenient excuses
\nfor Kabila to renege on his promises once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The integrity of an electronic ballot has also been called into question
\nby the international community. US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has claimed
\nthat America "has no appetite" for such a system, highlighting the
\nfact that it has never been tested in the country. Notwithstanding that display
\nof unequivocal opposition, government-controlled media have tried to paint the international
\nstakeholders as supportive of their venture.<\/p>\n
It is key to note that Kabila has a long history of employing
\nquestionable excuses to postpone his secession of the presidency. Previously,
\nhe has cited issues ranging from incomplete electoral registration to
\nunderfunding of CENI to militia violence in the central region of Kasai \u2013 a
\nconsequence, ironically, of his own refusal to step down. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to imagine that as election day approaches, the voting
\nmachines will end up as yet another subterfuge \u2013 especially since, as CENI head
\nCorneille Nangaa swore, "Without voting machines, there won't be elections
\non December 23 2018."<\/p>\n
How far has the DRC fallen. After the horror of Africa's World War in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the
\nworld hoped with bated breath that Kabila could bring some much-needed
\nstability to this turbulent region. The son of the previous (assassinated)
\npresident, Kabila ruled for a transitional period from 2001 until 2006, before
\nwinning two more elections (in questionable circumstances) and serving a
\n15-year tenure.<\/p>\n
Yet his rule has been characterised by an increasingly tenuous but
\niron-willed grip on power, with conditions for everyday citizens slowly but
\nsteadily deteriorating. Despite being one of the most resource-rich countries
\nin Africa, it\u2019s estimated that annual inflation has reached 50% and almost 10% of the population (7.7
\nmillion people) struggle with extreme hunger.<\/p>\n
And in the wake of Kabila\u2019s refusal to cede power in 2016, the situation
\nhas only deteriorated, with surging conflict forcing more than 1.3 million
\npeople to flee their homes, 800,000 of them children.<\/p>\n
In response to the rising chaos in the country, step forward the Catholic
\nchurch. With 32 million followers in a nation of 80 million, the church
\nis one of the few institutions capable of wielding power against Kabila and was
\nbehind a deal reached with Kabila in late 2016 to organise elections by
\nDecember 2017.<\/p>\n
Yet when the time came, Kabila once again sidestepped his obligations,
\nincurring the wrath of church leaders, who have been coordinating a new wave of
\npeaceful protests against him. Since then, three church-led anti-Kabila marches
\nhave taken place; on December 31, January 21, and February 25. <\/p>\n
The authorities have used tear gas and live ammunition to disperse
\nprotesters on all three occasions, resulting in at least 17 deaths and countless more injuries. The
\ngovernment callously maintain that there have been minimal casualties and deems all victims \u201cknown
\nterrorists\u201d. Yet that does precious little to explain why an infant is
\ncurrently struggling between life and death after having inhaled teargas in the
\nFebruary 25 protest.<\/p>\n
The government have also tried to further divide their opponents by
\ninstigating a Muslim counter-protest \u2013 a claim which has been categorically quashed by COMICO, the Islamic
\nCommunity in Congo. Meanwhile, exiled businessman and politician Mo\u00efse Katumbi,
\nwho is seen by many as the greatest political threat to Kabila\u2019s rule and the
\ncountry\u2019s best chance of a democratic leader, has called for opponents of the president to unite, regardless
\nof colour or creed. Earlier this month, Katumbi\u00a0succeeded in rallying together opposition parties
\ninto a coalition backing his candidacy, itself an impressive feat in a country
\nas fragmented as the DRC. And though he has promised to return to the country
\nby June, he still remains in Belgium, where he fled after a botched
\nassassination attempt and in order to avoiding incarceration for trumped-up money laundering charges.<\/p>\n
Surely keeping lawful elections at arm\u2019s length can\u2019t succeed
\nindefinitely \u2013 so what is Kabila\u2019s endgame? Judging by similar events in other increasingly authoritarian
\nstates like the Republic of Congo and Rwanda, it\u2019s entirely feasible that the
\npresident is postponing his abdication just long enough to find a loophole
\nwhich will allow him to engineer himself a third or even fourth term in power. <\/p>\n
After all, Kabila has already suggested "reframing" the legality of peaceful protests, so
\nhe may well take an oft-used page from the dictator\u2019s playbook and seek to
\nalter the constitution for his own personal gain. Yet if the international
\ncommunity wants to avoid another \u201cWorld War\u201d in Africa, they must step in to
\nnegotiate with Kabila for his own peaceful resignation \u2013 before he goes beyond
\nthe point of no return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United Nations Security Council votes on draft resolution to extend the mandate of the UN stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for another year, UN HQ,New York. March 27, 2018. Li Muzi\/Press Association. All rights reserved.As a fresh wave of civil unrest engulfs the Democratic Republic of Congo, the nation\u2019s government unveiled…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}