Congolese lobby calls for peaceful elections to end recurrent conflict

A group of Congolese activists have launched a platform to promote peaceful campaigns and elections in their country, with the aim of ending years of unrest, particularly in the eastern regions.

Known as the 'Friends of a Peaceful Congo', the group gathered in Nairobi to launch what they call the 'Alliance Fleuve Congo (Congo River Alliance)', which is targeting political parties, civil society groups, resistance and community self-defence forces, the DRC army and community and diaspora leaders.

The idea is to reduce inter-communal tensions before and after the December 20 elections.

“To all patriots sharing this urgent need for change, you are invited to join us, without delay, to save our country and to establish cohesive governance in unity and peace, the rebuilding of a State that rises to its sovereign responsibilities on the basis of the law and which assures the safety of all,” Mr Corneille Nangaa, their spokesman, said in Nairobi on Friday.

The group did not say whether it was endorsing any candidate but was critical of the regime of the incumbent president, Felix Tshisekedi.

22 candidates are running

Some 22 candidates are running in the presidential election slated for December 20, the same day as parliamentary and local elections. They include incumbent Felix Tshisekedi, Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege, 2018 aspirant Martin Fayulu and former Katanga Governor Moise Katumbi.

The group accused President Tshisekedi's government of failing to restore stability to the country, which is facing insecurity from armed groups. Around 120 armed groups remain active in the east of the DRC, where violence has resumed since October, pitting the M23 rebel group against government forces and their allied militias. Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of fuelling the M23 violence, but Kigali has denied the accusation.

This week the US put pressure on the M23 and government forces to declare a ceasefire. The rebels said they would respect the pause but would fight back if attacked.

The group said Tshisekedi’s tenure has been “characterised by unethical practices such as corruption, embezzlement of public funds, tribalism, dispossession of public and private property, discrimination, lies, tribalism and witch hunt”.

Turned into his tools

They claimed public institutions have been turned into his tools.

Indeed, Tshisekedi has blamed outside interference for the failure to end the war in the east.

Last week, while campaigning in Kivu, he accused some unnamed candidates of being proxies for foreign governments. Katumbi is one of the candidates recently accused of holding a Zambian passport, despite the Constitutional Court allowing him to run.

Friends for a Peaceful Congo, whose exact profile or membership was not given, called on President Felix Tshisekedi and the military to lead the Congolese to a peaceful election and ultimately a peaceful transfer of power.

“We launch on this day a call for the unity of all political, social and military forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Mr Corneille Nangaa said.

The country's 40 million registered voters have created a logistical nightmare for the electoral commission (CENI), which on Thursday asked the UN to step in to help transport materials and secure the vote. But the UN's stabilisation mission in Congo (Monusco) is due to leave the country this month, a victim of fractured relations with the Congolese public, which accuses the troops of failing to tame violence.

Recurring conflicts

“We have decided to work together to establish a structured force for the rebuilding of the state and to resolve the root causes of the recurring conflicts so as to ensure lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.

“Kinshasa regime has deliberately chosen to outsource national security by using war as a business, undermining the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) for the benefit of foreign mercenaries and other negative forces which prey upon the Eastern part of the country, sowing death and desolation.”

However, the lobby has expressed concern about the upcoming election, saying it may not be fair.

Some opposition candidates said the same on Tuesday, arguing that they had been prevented from campaigning freely.

The DRC has only seen one peaceful transfer of power since independence, when Tshisekedi took power in 2019.