THE unprecedented surrender of hundreds of militants and their leaders has raised a glimmer of hope that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could at last find peace.
The mass surrender is in support of the new administration under President Felix Tshisekedi.
No sooner had Tshisekedi pledged to uphold human rights and reconcile with other candidates in the December elections than some rebel leaders surrendered.
Il faut faire l’unité et se mettre au travail autour du nouveau président de la République, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo. Il s’est exprimé ainsi en ces termes : « Ce n’est plus le moment de confiner le président Tshisekedi dans un carcan tribal ou politique.
C’est le président de tout le monde. Et, nous, acteurs politiques qui avons eu l’avantage de lutter avec lui, nous devons l’aider à éteindre ces querelles et éviter l’ivresse du lait.
Nous avons le devoir de l’accompagner, le devoir de créer la paix autour de lui. Je me suis vu dans l’obligation de tirer cette sonnette d’alarme avant qu’il ne soit trop tard et de faire comprendre aux uns et aux autres que l’heure n’est plus aux querelles, mais au travail », a dit le président du bureau provisoire de l’Assemblée nationale.
On June 30, 1960, the Belgian Congo becomes independent. Power is shared between Joseph Kasa-Vubu, the president, and his prime minister, Patrice Lumumba.
Rivalry between the two quickly plunges the country into chaos. On July 5, a mutiny breaks out in the army.
In 1961, Lumumba, a popular figure in the campaign for independence from Belgium, is assassinated. Colonel Joseph-Desire Mobutu plays a key role in his murder, in which some foreign powers are also implicated.
Several provinces, notably mineral-rich Katanga in the southeast, secede. A wave of violence unfurls, causing at least 500,000 deaths by 1965.
On November 24, 1965, Mobutu — now a general — stages a coup and imposes dictatorial rule. In 1971 he renames the country the Republic of Zaire and changes his own name to Mobutu Sese Seko.
Two years later, he establishes the nationalist ideology of “Zairianisation” that involves pushing out foreign economic powers and replacing them with national ones.
Kinshasa, DRC – Not long after the Democratic Republic of the Congo‘s (DRC) electoral commission announced that elections scheduled for December 23 had been delayed by a week, a group of unemployed men outside a restaurant in capital Kinshasa had a look of disappointment etched across their faces.
“All we want to do is vote and decide our future. We want to choose someone who can improve our situation, but it seems the electoral commission is doing everything to keep the president in power,” Kambayi Ibrahim, a 35-year-old father of three, told Al Jazeera.
Last week, while extending the already-delayed elections, the electoral commission said it had no choice since the ballot materials were destroyed in a fire in its warehouse in the capital, Kinshasa.
But opposition supporters criticised the delay, saying it was a ploy to keep President Joseph Kabila in power.
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The expo, attended by 10 Zimbabwean mining companies, was held in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)from June 13 to 15.
“In spite of its reputation for instability and pandemic diseases, especially Ebola, the DRC is attracting a lot of foreign nationals, who can see great business potential in the country, ZimTrade’s acting export promotion manager, Renwick Wachenyuka, said.
“During our visit to Lubumbashi at no time did we feel unsafe, and the Zimbabweans in attendance identified some great business opportunities,” he said.
Apart from the trade show, participating companies also toured the Tenge Fungurume Mine, which holds one of the world’s largest known copper and cobalt reserves, as well as the Ivanhoe Mine where they established contact with some key personnel in the DRC mining sector.
“Our participation at the mining week expo and visits to DRC’s top mines was quite an eye opener. We were not sure of the market we were going into, but it was quite surprising and impressive to note that the DRC has a lot of potential which we can tap into,” Zimbabwe Valves director, Michael Sullivan, said.
“Moreover, the Congolese seem to have a soft spot for Zimbabwe and were excited to see a Zimbabwean delegation at the expo for the first time. We appreciate the support from ZimTrade and the consulate in Lubumbashi and look forward to doing business there,” he said.