Congo presidential election on course for December, says prime minister

Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila. [Photo: Courtesy]

An election in the Democratic Republic of Congo to replace President Joseph Kabila remains on course for late December, the country's Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala has said."I committed in front of our country's representatives in May last year to my mission which was to bring the Congolese people to elections this year, and I confirm that in December this year the Congolese people will be brought to the ballot boxes," Mr Tshibala told Reuters in an interview. Repeated stalling of the election has raised tensions across the vast central African country, triggering street protests and encouraging armed rebellions. Kabila's mandate expired in 2016 but he hasn' stepped down. "There were setbacks which caused this delay," said Tshibala. "But this time our course is set for elections and they will take place on December 23."

We are undertaking a survey to help us improve our content for you. This will only take 1 minute of your time, please give us your feedback by clicking HERE. All responses will be confidential.</s>An election in the Democratic Republic of Congo to replace President Joseph Kabila remains on course for late December, the country's Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala has said.

"I committed in front of our country's representatives in May last year to my mission which was to bring the Congolese people to elections this year, and I confirm that in December this year the Congolese people will be brought to the ballot boxes," Mr Tshibala told Reuters in an interview.

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Repeated stalling of the election has raised tensions across the vast central African country, triggering street protests and encouraging armed rebellions.

Kabila's mandate expired in 2016 but he hasn' stepped down. "There were setbacks which caused this delay," said Tshibala. "But this time our course is set for elections and they will take place on December 23."</s>LONDON: An election in the Democratic Republic of Congo to replace President Joseph Kabila remains on course for late December, the central African country's Prime Minister, Bruno Tshibala, has said.

"I committed in front of our country's representatives in May last year to my mission which was to bring the Congolese people to elections this year, and I confirm that in December this year the Congolese people will be brought to the ballot boxes," Tshibala told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday.

Repeated stalling of the election has raised tensions across the vast central African country, triggering street protests and encouraging armed rebellions. Kabila was due to step down when his mandate expired at the end of 2016 but has so far refused to do so.

"There were setbacks which caused this delay," said Tshibala. "But this time our course is set for elections and they will take place on December 23."

Tshibala, a former leading member of Congo's main opposition coalition, was appointed by Kabila just under a year ago to head a transitional 'unity' government tasked with organising the election. He is expected to be the opposition candidate in the election.

When asked about technical problems experienced by voting machines during recent testing in the capital Kinshasa, Tshibala said: "Machines are a great revolution," adding they would help the election to run smoothly and in record time.

"We have taken all the precautions with the electoral commission for it to go well. It's true that it's a vast country... but that's exactly why the voting machines will help improve the process."

Opponents of current president Kabila, who has ruled Congo since his father’s assassination in 2001, suspect he intends to repeatedly delay elections until he can organise a referendum to let himself stand for a third term, as his counterparts in neighbouring Congo Republic and Rwanda have done.

Kabila denies those charges, saying the election delays are due to challenges registering millions of voters and budgetary constraints.

DRC security forces have killed dozens of civilians in protests over election delays over the last two years. Worsening militia violence has meanwhile raised fears of a backslide toward the civil wars of the turn of the century that killed millions.

The country's economic situation is still difficult. The central bank currently predicts inflation of 38 percent for the end of 2018, and Tshibala said the country is prepared to cooperate with international financial institutions.

"We are making an internal effort to improve tax collection and government receipts," said Tshibala.

"If we find ourselves in a difficult situation we won't hesitate to speak to the international financial institutions to provide a supplement in order to improve our functioning as a state."

Congo, which is the same size as western Europe, has plentiful resources. It is Africa's largest copper producer and is the source of more than half the world's cobalt, a vital ingredient in mobile phone and electric vehicle batteries.

Its output jumped 15.5 percent last year and President Kabila held a nearly-six hour meeting with international mining companies on Wednesday on new mining laws that will increase the revenues DRC gets from the firms.

"There will be a revision of the code to try and make it more attractive and fair to the DRC. There will be a compromise between us and the mining companies," Tshibala said.</s>LONDON (Reuters) - A humanitarian crisis in central Democratic Republic of Congo is easing, Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala told Reuters on Thursday, after confirming an election to replace President Joseph Kabila remains on course for late December.

The Kasai region is Congo’s biggest security challenge and has been the scene of a growing humanitarian disaster. But the situation there “seems to be improving”, Tshibala said in an interview conducted in London on Thursday.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a report on Wednesday that 13.1 million Congolese need humanitarian assistance, twice as many as last year, and that 7.7 million face severe food insecurity, up 30 percent from a year ago.

“The situation is under control,” said Tshibala. Asked about reports of aid workers killed in the country, he said: “We ensure security through our armed forces and police. Humanitarian workers are welcome and are protected.”

Over the last two years, DRC security forces have killed dozens of civilians protesting about election delays. At least two were killed in a crackdown late last month in Kinshasa.

Worsening militia violence has meanwhile raised fears Congo is sliding back towards the civil wars of the turn of the century that killed millions. But Tshibala shrugged off militia groups active throughout the country as lacking political aims.

Much of the unrest stems from Kabila’s extended stay in office. His presidential mandate expired at the end of 2016 but has so far refused to step down.

Tshibala said an election — repeatedly stalled — to replace Kabila is on course for December.

“I committed in front of our country’s representatives in May last year to my mission, which was to bring the Congolese people to elections this year, and I confirm that in December this year the Congolese people will be brought to the ballot boxes,” Tshibala said.

“There were setbacks which caused this delay. But this time our course is set for elections and they will take place on Dec. 23.”

A former leading member of Congo’s main opposition coalition, Tshibala was appointed by Kabila just under a year ago to head a transitional ‘unity’ government tasked with organising the election.

Asked about technical problems experienced by voting machines during recent testing in the capital Kinshasa, he said: “Machines are a great revolution” that would help the election to run smoothly and in record time.

“We have taken all the precautions with the electoral commission for it to go well. It’s true that it’s a vast country ... but that’s exactly why the voting machines will help improve the process.”

Opponents of Kabila, who has ruled Congo since his father Laurent’s assassination in 2001, suspect he intends to repeatedly delay elections until he can organise a referendum to let himself stand for a third term, as his counterparts in neighbouring Congo Republic and Rwanda have done.

Kabila denies those charges, saying the election delays are due to challenges registering millions of voters and budgetary constraints.

NO CHANGE TO NEW MINING CODE

Congo, which is nearly the same size as western Europe, has plentiful resources and is implementing new mining laws to increase the revenues it gets from miners active in the country.

It is Africa’s largest copper producer and the source of more than half the world’s cobalt, a vital ingredient in mobile phone and electric vehicle batteries. Its output of cobalt jumped 15.5 percent last year.

The new laws are fiercely opposed by international mining conglomerates, which are concerned Congo will raise taxes and royalties and remove a stability clause in the current law protecting miners from fiscal changes for 10 years.

Kabila held a nearly six hour long meeting with miners on Wednesday to discuss the laws.

But on Thursday Tshibala told Reuters the new code will be signed into law without changes. [L5N1QP72Q]

He was unable to specify how much extra revenue the changes would generate and said the economic situation remains difficult. The central bank currently predicts inflation will be 38 percent by the end of 2018.

“We are making an internal effort to improve tax collection and government receipts,” said Tshibala.

“If we find ourselves in a difficult situation we won’t hesitate to speak to the international financial institutions to provide a supplement in order to improve our functioning as a state.”</s>Kinshasa — The powerful Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo has said it supports calls for a nationwide stoppage on Friday in response to a bloody crackdown on protests against President Joseph Kabila.

An umbrella group of 10 pro-democracy groups has appealed for a "ghost town" protest, in which cities come to a standstill, over the deaths of two activists shot by police in demonstrations on February 25.

A church-backed group called the Lay Co-ordination Committee on Thursday said that it "completely supported" the initiative.

The deaths on February 25 added to 15 killings in marches on December 31 and January 21, according to UN and church figures. The three rallies, organised by the committee have thrown an international spotlight on the tension in the nation.

Kabila was due to stand down from office in December 2016, ending his second elected term. However, he has controversially stayed on under laws enabling him to retain power until his successor is elected. The latest timetable to hold elections is for December 23 — a year later than scheduled under a December 31 2016 peace deal brokered by the church.</s>Highlighting political tensions and the disintegrating security situation in the country, head of the UN stabilization mission in the country, Leila Zerrougui has told the UN Security Council for the first time

that significant progress is being made on preparations for upcoming polls. She encouraged the Council to consider how the security situation could be stabilized and the political and electoral process best

supported – in line with the 31 December 2016 agreement for a peaceful political transition. Meanwhile, DRC’s Prime minister Bruno Tshibala in a recent interview granted Reuters, says an election to

replace President Joseph Kabila remains on course for late December. He also told the news agency that a humanitarian crisis in the central part of the country is easing; remarks that the opposition in the

country say are untrue. On the programme is the UDPS the main opposition party’s national secretary for communication Augustin Kabuya. Africanews ‘the morning call’ anchors Jerry Bambi and Barbara

Loundou engage him to know why they at the UPDS party are not buying into any of the assurances from the head of the UN mission in the DRC Leila Zerrougui and the country’s Prime minister Tshibala.</s>New Delhi, November 20: Congress Working Committee on Monday passed a resolution to make Rahul Gandhi the party president. Reportedly Rahul Gandhi would be elevated to the position of Congress Party President on December 5.

The last date to submit the nominations would be 4th December. If an election is needed, as a prerequisite for his elevation as the president, an election would be held on December 15.

Reportedly, the notification would be issued on December 1. Nominations could be submitted till December 4. candidates could withdraw their applications until December 11. If there is an election on December 15, the votes cast would be counted after three days of the election on December 19.

If there is none to make it an election, the present Congress vice-president of Rahul would be elevated on the day of scrutiny itself, that is on December 5.

The Congress Working Committee declared this after a meeting held on Monday. Rahul Gandhi, the 47-year-old politician had previously intimated his readiness to take over the Congress president’s position from his mother, Sonia Gandhi.
Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala says the election – delayed repeatedly since President Joseph Kabila's term expired in December 2016 – will occur this December.