DRC

Congolese See No End to President’s Final Term

OPINION

Source: The New York Times

Kinshasa, 8 August 2015 - To take the political pulse of this sprawling, mineral-rich country, head to the busiest stretch of Lumumba Boulevard, one of the capital’s main roads. On weekdays, a large crowd gathers here to peer at the newspapers posted on an eight-foot-high wall and loudly trade opinions on the news of the day.

Recently, the shouting has been about President Joseph Kabila’s plan to carve the country’s 11 provinces into 26, which many Congolese see as a ploy to delay the coming presidential election and allow Mr. Kabila to “slide,” as people here say, into a third term.

“We already know these are political maneuvers,” said Theo Balsomi, an unemployed college graduate, as he jostled with others to get a look at the newspapers on a recent afternoon. “Knowing the reality of our country, we have lived through many regimes. We won’t allow Mr. Kabila to slide for even a second. The whole population would oppose that.”

Mandated in 2006, the plan to split the provinces lay dormant until the president revived it in March. The new provinces have been named, but elections for governors and other leaders have yet to be held.

Before voting for a new president in 2016, the Democratic Republic of Congo must go through a series of elections on the local and provincial levels. Mayors, village chiefs and councils must be named, and deputies and governors need to be elected in the provinces. The longer this process takes, the more likely the presidential race will be postponed.

Under Congo’s Constitution, the president is limited to two terms. However, delays in the packed electoral calendar, which is already months behind schedule, are stoking fears that a postponed presidential election could allow Mr. Kabila to stay in power for months or even years longer.

Mr. Kabila, who rarely speaks publicly, has yet to say explicitly that he will step down in 2016. When asked about the sudden push to divide the country into 26 provinces, the communications minister, Lambert Mende, said the president “should not leave office, should not end his second term without giving what had been decided in 2006.”

This is not the first time this year that the president has been accused of trying to alter the election schedule to stay in office.

In January, lawmakers began debating a bill pushed by the government that would require a census to be conducted before the 2016 presidential election. Experts said that process could take years, complicated by the lack of infrastructure in a country more than three times the size of Texas. The president would stay in power for the duration of the census.

Opponents to Mr. Kabila’s rule, led by rival politicians and youth activists, have called this a plan to push back the election and allow the president to hold on to power. In response, thousands of people took to the streets across the country. At least 36 people were killed by security forces before the government backed down and altered the bill to allow the election to take place without a census.

The Congolese people say, rain or snow, there will be a change in leadership in 2016,” said Vital Kamerhe, leader of the Union for the Congolese Nation, an opposition party. “Either he respects the Constitution or he’ll be pushed out by the people.”

Instead of a census, the opposition has asked for a reassessment of the electoral rolls, which have not been updated since 2011, to add more than five million young Congolese who have since reached voting age. At the moment, those voters would not be eligible to vote in 2016. A number of youth movements have sprouted throughout the country, holding pro-democracy rallies and calling for electoral change.

The protests speak to the population’s desire for a legitimate democratic process, said Ntanda Nkere, a political science professor at the University of Kinshasa. “Anything that counters that perspective will be highly contested,” he said, adding that the national objection could be similar to the protests in January.

The 2011 presidential election was tainted by serious irregularities and voter fraud, according to American and European electoral observers. Mr. Kabila’s second term began in controversy, with protests erupting and his main challenger also claiming victory. The Independent National Electoral Commission, tasked with organizing the elections, says it has invested money and manpower to ensure that the 2016 elections are free and fair.

The electoral calendar calls for 11 elections from October 2015 to November 2016, a majority of which have yet to be organized. Local elections are scheduled to start in two months, but they cannot begin until the new provinces are established. This stalemate has members of Parliament, the opposition and the Roman Catholic Church calling for changes to the calendar. They want to postpone the local elections until after the provincial and presidential contests have taken place.

“We’re not saying the local elections don’t hold importance,” said Leonard Santedi, a leader in the influential Roman Catholic Church. “They’re important, but we have to be realistic.” He added: “We need to agree on a calendar. If not, how can we have peaceful elections?”

The electoral commission controls the calendar, but its reluctance to change it has fueled the belief that it is taking its cues from Mr. Kabila. Some international organizations have questioned the commission’s legitimacy.

A leading opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, has called the commission, known here as CENI, an accomplice to Mr. Kabila’s apparent plan to stay in power.

“CENI cannot continue to play this role,” said Bruno Mavungu, the party’s secretary general. “We should focus all of our energy and the little money that the government does have into holding the legislative and presidential elections next year.”

The elections will cost $1.4 billion, according to government estimates. As of now, the government is $900 million short, a gap the electoral commission hopes to meet with international contributions and donations. In May 2014, Secretary of State John Kerry promised $30 million on the condition that Mr. Kabila step down in 2016.

The commission says it has yet to receive those funds. “Stability in Congo influences stability and peace elsewhere,” said a spokesman for the commission, Jean-Pierre Kalamba Mulumba. “We hope, in good faith, that they will support us.” For many Congolese, however, stability will require Mr. Kabila to stand aside.

If he does not, said Mr. Balsomi, who spent most of the afternoon voicing his frustration near the newspaper wall on Lumumba Boulevard, “the people will take matters into their own hands.”

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BURUNDI

Burundi: Suspects in killing of general arrested

NEWS STORY

Source: AFP

Bujumbura, 10 August 2015 - Burundi's prosecutor on Sunday said the killers of a powerful general loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza had been identified and "a certain number" had been arrested.

General Adolphe Nshimirimana, widely seen as Burundi's de-facto internal security chief, was killed in a rocket attack on August 2.

He was a close aide of president Nkurunziza, whose successful bid for a third term has fuelled violence resulting in about a hundred deaths, a crackdown on protests and an exodus of citizens fleeing the country.

"The identities of the perpetrators are now known," a statement issued by the prosecutor's office said.

"A certain number have been arrested. The rest of them and the masterminds are being sought."

It did not give further details. Police spokesperson Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed the authenticity of the statement to AFP but did not elaborate.

The president had given the security forces a week to catch Nshimirimana's killers.

The prosecutor said a military vehicle had been used by the killers and subsequently burned.

The vehicle had been identified and came from a military camp in the centre of the capital Bujumbura, it added.

According to witnesses quoted in the local media, the attackers were wearing military uniforms.

Nkurunziza's candidacy was condemned as unconstitutional by the opposition and provoked months of protests.

In mid-May, rebel generals attempted a coup. They have since launched a rebellion in the north of the country, close to the border with Rwanda.

U.N. chief urges Burundi president to resume political dialogue

NEWS STORY

Source: Xinhua

7 August 2015 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon has urged President Pierre Nkurunziza to resume the political dialogue in Burundi, while voicing his concern over recent high-profile assassinations in the African country.

"The Secretary-General urged President Nkurunziza to resume the political dialogue, which has been suspended since July 19.

"He encouraged the Burundian authorities to work closely with the Ugandan-led facilitation on behalf of the East African Community," said Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesman for the secretary-general, at a daily briefing held here Thursday.

In a phone call with President Nkurunziza, Ban reiterated his strong condemnation of the recent killing of General Adolphe Nshimirimana and the attempted assassination of Pierre Clavier Mbonimpa, according to Dujarric.

On Monday, Ban slammed the attempted assassination of prominent human rights defender Mbonimpa, calling for a prompt probe into the incident.

This attack came one day after the killing of Nshimirimana, former Burundian intelligence chief.

"He (Ban) expressed his deep concern over the impact of these events on security in Burundi," said Dujarric, who also said the secretary-general offered UN’s full support to help find a peaceful solution to the grave problems Burundi now faces.

Burundian President Nkurunziza won his third term after a controversial presidential election in late July as a candidate of the ruling party amid months of unrest sparked by his bid seeking for a new term.

The opposition said his re-election was illegal as it violated the country’s constitution that sets a two-term limit for presidency.

The country’s constitutional court, however, ruled that the president’s first term doesn’t count as he was appointed by a parliament not elected by the people.

Burundi: At least 4 people found dead in Bujumbura

NEWS STORY

Source: APA

7 August 2015 - At least four people were found dead on Thursday in the Burundian districts of Cibitoki and Butere which were hit by protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term., reports said on Friday.One Congolese and his son were found dead in Cibitoki. Both were shot on Thursday morning as they were coming from the mosque, according to the witnesses.

However, the police said that some of its elements were victims of grenade attack during a patrol but they riposted.

Those found dead in Butere were not identified by the local community. They are reported to be killed elsewhere and thrown in their district.

The insecurity worsens at a time when, after some opposition groups boycotted the recent presidential election, government institutions are being reestablished.

Burundians have been living in uncertainty as they wait for Nkurunziza’s inauguration for a third presidential term, contested by many who argue that a third term is unconstitutional.

The opponents pledged that they won’t let President Nkurunziza lead the country.

According to them, August 26 is the deadline for the president to step down, which is the end of his term.

US Envoy Warns Burundi Attacks Risk a New Cycle of Violence

NEWS STORY

Source: AP

7 August 2015 - The United States' U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power warned Friday that "horrible attacks" on both sides in Burundi risk creating "a cycle of violence and a spiral of violence."

The capital Bujumbura has been hit by violence since April when the ruling party announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza would seek re-election for a third term. Nkurunziza was re-elected last month in elections widely condemned as unfair.

Tensions escalated following Sunday's assassination of a top military general, Adolphe Nshimirimana, and Monday's attempted assassination of a top human rights activist, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, who had spoken out against a third term for the president.

Power urged the government and opposition to participate in internationally mediated talks to come up with political arrangements "that will calm tempers, allow civil society and independent media to be reconstituted, and to operate freely in the country."

"Those attacks must stop," she said. "There is going to need to be a political place for those on both sides upset about the violence or upset about the political conditions to channel their energies."

Power said the United States and many other countries are looking at possible visa or travel bans and other measures "against those who are responsible for carrying out gross violations of human rights or ... murderous attacks."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also warned after this week's attacks that the growing politically motivated violence "must be broken before it escalates beyond control," his spokesman said.

The U.N. chief stressed that accountability and "a genuine and inclusive political dialogue are the best response to such attempts to destabilize Burundi," the spokesman said.

In a phone call to Nkurunziza on Wednesday, Ban expressed "deep concern" at the impact of this week's attacks and urged the president to resume the political dialogue which has been suspended since July 19, the spokesman said.

Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza's friends can't disagree with him

OPINION

Source: The Africa Report

By Lin Bigingo

Bujumbura, 7 August 2015 - Burundi's leader has thrust the country to the forefront of the debate about presidential term limits. With few friends in the region but a divided opposition, will he be able to stave off the threat of instability?

Having gained his political and strategic education in a bush war, President Pierre Nkurunziza fought off a putsch, opposition boycotts and diplomatic pressure to win a third term in presidential elections on 21 July.

He left a trail of new and old enemies in his wake after opposition and civil society groups claimed that a third term would violate the constitution and the 2001Arusha accords that brought the country's civil war to an end.

In the months where protests and their repression led to more than 100 deaths, Nkurunziza brushed aside calls from the AU and neighbouring countries to talk with his opponents.

The Ugandan government offered to mediate, but the government refused to delay the vote.

Western donors have cut off some aid, and the AU refused to send observers to what it believed would not be a free and fair election.

Nkurunziza does not seem to have any regional allies.

In neighbouring Rwanda, where President Paul Kagame's party