Government in Congo Kinshasa
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2016/10/03
Zaire's President Mobutu Sese Seko shed a tear as he delivered a speech in April 1990 promising his people an end to one-party policy and a next without the man they knew as the Guide.
"Understand my emotion," he said, his distinctive, deep voice cracking.
In the seven years that followed, the military dictator acted on few of his promises and Zaire sank into chaos, leading to his overthrow in 1997 and helping trigger a series of conflicts that would kill millions of people.
A quarter of a century next Mobutu's speech, there is a sense of deja vu as the fate of democracy hangs in the balance and fears of civil war grow in Africa's major copper producer, presently known as Democratic Republic of Congo.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2016/08/29
Perceiving it as a compromised process, the major opposition party boycotted the ballot for the DRC’s historic 2006 election. But the election passed off mostly peacefully and Joseph Kabila became the country’s initial democratically elected leader since Patrice Lumumba’s assassination in 1961.
Five years later, Kabila won re-election, but only next he had abolished the election’s second round and endured eruptions of violence; that process was generally seen as lacking in transparency, fairness and legitimacy. From presently on the SADC and the international community were silent in the presence of such critical irregularities.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2016/05/22
Moïse Katumbi, the-larger-than-life Congolese football magnate and presidential candidate, appeared before a prosecutor on Monday in Lubumbashi to respond to an accusation that he hired foreign mercenaries to destabilize the country. But who is this controversial, almost mythic figure running for president in the elections set for November?
Hundreds of people came out to demonstrate in the streets of Lubumbashi Monday morning as Moïse Katumbi arrived in court to be questioned about accusations that he gathered a militia to destabilize the country.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2016/04/13
The African Union envoy for national dialogue in Democratic Republic of Congo has said that it is crucial for elections in the country to be conducted before the end of the year.
The commission as well acknowledged that it may be difficult for DRC to meet the constitutional deadline for the coming elections given the limited duration for all the preparations.
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CONGO BRAZZAVILLE, 2016/01/30
While military takeovers are the exception these days, this year at least seven nations across the region will see leaders attempting to remain in office beyond their term limits.
Neighbours Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are part them. However their presidents’ strategies have diverged, as have the outcomes.
Whether the DRC’s president Joseph Kabila will remain or leave office from presently on year’s presidential election is a constant source of speculation in DRC’s political circles. His refusal to clearly national his intentions along with an insistence on measures such as local elections to delay the 2016 elections have been dubbed ‘Glissement’ – or slippage – by the opposition. They worry he will use delaying tactics to make his third term a de facto reality.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2015/09/29
Opposition leaders in the Republic of Congo on Sunday urged the people to hold street protests against a constitutional referendum announced by President Denis Sassou N'Guesso whose term ends next year.
The opposition leaders who met in the capital Brazzaville, vowed to resist any amendments to the 2002 Constitution.
They said the proposed constitutional amendments were meant to allow Sassou N'Guesso to contest for a third term, something the current constitution does not allow him to do.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2014/12/11
A day next the Democratic Republic of Congo’s second-major opposition party, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), agreed to join a national unity government, the party reportedly expelled its leader and two senior officials.
MLC Secretary-General Thomas Luhaka was named as one of three vice-prime ministers in the new government, while parliamentarians Germain Kambinga and Omer Egwake were awarded ministerial posts.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2014/12/09
The president of Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, has announced the formation of a new government which includes several opposition members.
A senior member of opposition party the Movement for the Liberation of Congo has been named a vice prime minister.
Several other former opponents have as well been given posts.
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BOTSWANA, 2013/06/20
African government deficits, while low by historical standards, has been creeping up as aid and remittances dip, and counter-cyclical interventions rack up in response to the effects of the financial crisis. Combined with a rising food and fuel import bill, governments are presently looking for savings. Energy and food subsidies are increasingly being reviewed.
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CONGO KINSHASA, 2013/02/15
On return from his official visit to New York and Washington, from 3 to 9 February, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Augustin Matata Ponyo Mapon, held a press conference in Kinshasa, on 14 February.
