GENERAL NEWS

Grands lacs : Kinshasa abritera la conférence sur l’investissement privé

ARTICLE

Source : Agence d’Information d’Afrique centrale

Par Alain Diasso

Ce forum vise à créer impérativement des conditions pour la promotion de l’investissement privé dans la région.

7 juillet 2015 - Kinshasa s’apprête à organiser les 24 et 25 février 2016, la conférence sur l’investissement privé dans les Grands lacs. C’est dans ce cadre qu’il faut placer le séjour dans la capitale congolaise de l’Envoyé spécial du secrétaire général de l’ONU pour cette région, Saïd Djinnit. Ce dernier se déploie dans tous les sens pour déblayer le terrain en prévision de cet évènement de haute portée régionale. Interrogé sur les préparatifs de ces assises, il a indiqué que le processus de mise en œuvre du projet est déjà lancé notamment avec la CIRGL, l’Union africaine, la SADC et d’autres instances régionales et internationales.

Depuis son arrivée à Kinshasa, le diplomate onusien ne cesse de multiplier des contacts avec les autorités congolaises impliquées dans ce projet à l’image du ministre des Affaires étrangères, Raymond Tshibanda avec lequel il a établi les paramètres de collaboration. Il en est de même avec le comité d’organisation de ce forum. « C’est un grand moment pour la RDC et pour la région. Et nous souhaitons qu’à partir de ce moment-là, le secteur privé porte un regard plus favorable sur la région et soit informé pleinement des opportunités d’investissement », a-t-il indiqué.

Avec toutes les parties prenantes, Saïd Djinnit aura noté l’enthousiasme qui caractérise les uns et les autres dans la matérialisation de ce projet, mais aussi le souhait émis par ses interlocuteurs de « créer impérativement des conditions pour la promotion de l’investissement » privé dans la région des Grands lacs.

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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

RDC: lancement du Projet de renforcement de l’observation citoyenne des élections

ARTICLE

Source : Radio Okapi (Kinshasa)

7 juillet 2015 - Le Projet de renforcement de l’observation citoyenne des élections au Congo (Procec) a été lancé officiellement mardi 7 juillet à Kinshasa. Financé par l’Union européenne et l’Institut électoral d’Afrique australe (EISA), ce projet de vingt-quatre mois est appelé à aider les onze structures de la société civile congolaise dans la réforme électorale juridique et institutionnelle ainsi que la prise d’initiative de plaidoyer pour une meilleure organisation des élections. Le responsable du Procec, Lucien Toulou, a souligné le rôle que la société civile est appelée à jouer dans le processus électoral en RDC:

« [Il faut] que la société civile congolaise soit la première juge du processus électoral. Il est important que les processus électoraux dans nos pays soient appropriés par nos propres sociétés. Et donc, le plus important c’est ce que les Congolais pensent de ce processus-là, évidemment à côté d’autres acteurs.»

Selon lui, il est important que le peuple s’approprie ce processus. Lucien Toulou a par ailleurs expliqué la valeur ajoutée de ce projet, pour la société civile congolaise, dans les observations des élections:

«Il faut [ce processus électoral] soit crédible, il faut qu’il soit impartial, qu’il soit neutre ; il faut qu’il soit un peu plus professionnel. Donc, la valeur ajoutée du projet, c’est de mettre à la disposition de la société civile congolaise un certain nombre d’outils et d’approches qui ont cours dans d’autres pays, qui sont utilisés notamment par les observateurs internationaux pour faire cette observation crédible, professionnelle et impartiale.»

Il a assuré que les partenaires techniques et financiers accompagneraient la société civile congolaise «pour qu’elle puisse jouer sa partition dans l’observation des élections, dans l’amélioration du processus électoral et dans la consolidation de la démocratie au Congo.»​

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BURUNDI

Burundi ruling party wins controversial parliamentary poll

Source: AFP World News

Bujumbura, 7 July 2015 - The ruling party of Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has swept to an expected overwhelming victory in controversial parliament elections that were boycotted by the opposition, according to official results released Tuesday.

The CNDD-FFD party of Nkurunziza, who is seeking a disputed third term in office in upcoming presidential polls, won 77 out of 100 elected seats in parliament, with two more seats going to its ally UPRONA, according to the national election commission.

The opposition boycotted the June 29 polls, which the UN electoral observer mission said took place "in a climate of widespread fear and intimidation".

The elections were also condemned by the African Union and European Union, while civil society groups backed the boycott calling on voters to skip the "sham elections" after months of turmoil.

Despite opposition boycott, the coalition Independents of Hope group of Agathon Rwasa and Charles Nditije won 11 seats.

The crisis in the central African nation revolves around Nkurunziza's third-term bid, which his opponents say is unconstitutional and violates a peace deal that brought an end to a dozen years of civil war in 2006.

Over 70 people have been killed in more than two months of protests, with over 158,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.

Presidential polls are due on July 15 followed by senatorial elections on July 24.

Under the constitution, based on peace deals that paved the way for the end of a 13-year civil war in 2006, there are strict ethnic quotas in parliament.

Parliament must be made up of 60 percent from the majority Hutu people -- who make up some 85 percent of the population -- with the remaining 40 percent of elected seats reserved for the minority Tutsi. At least 30 percent of seats must also be held by women.

Three extra seats on top of the 100 voted for are reserved for the Twa ethnic group, which make up some one percent of the population.

Burundi considers response after African nations seek vote delay

Source: Reuters World Service

Bujumbura, 7 July 2015 - Burundi officials will discuss their response on Tuesday to a call by African nations to delay the presidential election by two weeks to July 30, a presidential spokesman said.

Burundi has been plunged into its worst crisis since the end of a civil war in 2005 after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced in April that he would run for a third term in office, a move opponents and protesters say is unconstitutional.

The president cites a court ruling saying he can run.

Regional African states meeting in Tanzania on Monday called for the July 15 presidential poll to be delayed to allow Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to mediate. They also urged steps including disarming youth groups linked to political parties.

"We are meeting today to consider a reaction," presidential spokesman Gervais Abayeho told Reuters, saying the meeting would include government officials and the CENI election commission.

He did not give a time or say if the government was considering delaying the vote. He said the meeting would be held once the foreign minister returned from Tanzania on Tuesday.

The government has yet to issue a response to the meeting of the East African Community (EAC), whose member states are Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda. South Africa, which helped broker the 2005 peace deal, also attended.

Nkurunziza's election bid triggered weeks of protests, often involving clashes between demonstrators and police. Dozens of people were killed.

More than 140,000 people have fled Burundi fearing a return of ethnic-fuelled violence experienced in the 12-year civil war that pitted rebel groups of the majority Hutus, one of them led by Nkurunziza, against minority Tutsis, who then led the army.

The conflict ended with the Arusha accords, named after the Tanzanian city where they were brokered. The deal established ethnic quotas in institutions and other steps to restore order.

The president's opponents say he is threatening that pact, which sets a two-term limit, by seeking a third term.

Burundi might postpone poll amid protests over president's candidacy

Source: dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

Bujumbura, 7 July 2015 - Burundi is considering postponing its July 15 presidential election after East African leaders said the vote could not be held amid protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term, a presidential spokesman said Tuesday.

"The government is willing to listen to this request because we want everybody to go into this election satisfied," Willy Nyamitwe said.

The East African Community held an emergency summit Monday in Tanzania and called on the government to postpone the election to July 30 because of the unrest.

But Nyamitwe said the eventual postponement should respect the constitution. The ruling CNDD-FDD party said the constitution requires the election to take place by July 26, one month before Nkurunziza's mandate expires on August 26.

The five-nation East African Community appointed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to mediate between the government and the opposition after the ruling party rejected mediation by UN special envoy Abdoulaye Bathily, whom it accused of siding with the opposition.

CNDD-FDD spokesman Daniel Gelase Ndabirabe said the party would discuss the eventual postponement of the election with Museveni.

"We will convince him that we cannot go out of the provisions of the national constitution" by holding the election after July 26, he said.

Other issues to be discussed will include the formation of a government of union that would include opposition figures, Ndabirabe said.

Nyamitwe and Ndabirabe made their comments hours after Leonard Ngendakumana, a general who backed a failed coup in May, said the army was still planning to overthrow Nkurunziza.

The Pan African Lawyers Union, meanwhile, said it had filed a case at the East African Court of Justice to stop the July 15 election. It filed the case together with the East African Civil Society Organizations' Forum.

"What is happening in Burundi now is a total breach of fundamental and operational principles of the treaty for the establishment of the East African Community," said Evelyn Chijarira, a lawyer representing the lawyers group.

About 80 people have been killed during more than two months of protests against Nkurunziza's bid for a third five-year term, which critics see as violating the constitution. More than 140,000 people have fled the country.

Nkurunziza ignored calls to postpone the June 29 parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by the opposition. The election results have yet to be made public.

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ANGOLA

Central Africa: ICGLR Executive Secretary, Professor Ntumba Luaba Received By Angola Vice President

PRESS RELEASE

7 July 2015 - The ICGLR Executive Secretary, Professor Ntumba Luaba was received by the Vice President of the Republic of Angola, H.E Manuel Domingos Vicente on 3rd July 2015 in Luanda, on request of the President of the Republic of Angola and Chairman of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), H.E. José Edouardo Dos Santos due to his tight schedule.

The Executive Secretary came to report on the political and security situation in the Great Lakes Region, particularly Burundi, especially on the activities of the Joint International Facilitation Team (ICGLR Executive Secretary, EAC Deputy Executive Secretary, Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission in Burundi and for the Great Lakes Region, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Central Africa) on the electoral process in Burundi.