DR Congo president stands by election timetable in rare press conference

Jan 26, 2018

"We have to have elections as scheduled," Kabila said in the capital Kinshasa, referring to the date of December 23, 2018 announced last year.

PIC: Soldier of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) sit on a military vehicle in an area of exchanges of fire with members of the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) in Opira, North Kivu, on January 25, 2018. (AFP)

DR CONGO - DR Congo President Joseph Kabila, in his first press conference since 2012, on Friday stood by the timetable for delayed elections despite demands that he step down ahead of the poll.

"We have to have elections as scheduled," Kabila said in the capital Kinshasa, referring to the date of December 23, 2018 announced last year.

"I note that, on our side, there is a roadmap, and what other people are proposing is nothing, zero, a jump into the void, a leap into the unknown."

Kabila, 46, has been in power since 2001, at the helm of a regime widely criticised for corruption, repression and incompetence.

His constitutional term in office expired in December 2016 but he stayed on, under laws enabling him to remain office until his successor is elected.

Under a deal brokered on December 31 2016 by the powerful Catholic Church, Kabila agreed that new elections would be held by the end of 2017.

The authorities late last year postponed the election until December 23 2018, citing what they said were logistical problems in preparing for the vote.

Since then, there has been a string of rallies demanding his departure, each of which has been repressed by the security forces.

The latest violence flared on January 21, when security forces opened fire on Catholic-organised demonstrations, killing six, injuring scores of others and arresting dozens, according to figures released by the UN mission MONUSCO.

The bloodshed has been condemned by the European Union and the United Nations and placed Kabila's regime on collision course with the influential Catholic church and the country's former colonial power, Belgium.

In other comments on Friday, Kabila said the relationship between the government and the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was troubled by a "misunderstanding."

MONUSCO has repeatedly and sharply reminded the DRC authorities of the right to peaceful demonstration and freedom of expression.

It was time to "clarify" the relationship, said Kabila, adding that there could be no "co-management" of the DRC between the UN and the country's government.

Sprawling, mineral-rich but mired in poverty, DR Congo is in the grip of overlapping political and ethnic crises, and much of the country's east is in the hands of rival militia groups competing over resources.

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