South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday praised Joseph Kabila, the outgoing Democratic Republic of Congo head of state, for his “respect for the constitution”, according to a statement.

The presidents met in Kinshasa for a “working visit”, the African Union said, two days after Kabila announced his withdrawal from DR Congo’s presidential race which is scheduled for the end of the year.

Kabila on Wednesday ended months of speculation by putting his weight behind former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary to be his successor for the December 23 poll.

Ramaphosa and Kabila discussed “the evolution of the political, electoral and security situations in the DRC as well as the strengthening of relations between the two countries and issues of regional interest”, a joint statement said.

They also recognised the “significant progress made in the electoral process” in the war-torn country Kabila has ruled for 17 years.

Ramaphosa, who is also the current head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), praised his counterpart for “honouring his word to respect the constitution” of the DR Congo, the statement added.

Equatorial Guinea’s leading opposition party also hailed Kabila on Friday, calling his decision not to run “a giant step in the history of democracy in central Africa”.

“To be a good democrat is not only to win or lose elections, but also to give up power when the law and society requires it, (to avoid) the spilling of innocent blood,” said Gabriel Nse Obiang, the leader of the Citizens for Innovation (CI) party.

Meanwhile, supporters of DR Congo opposition leader Moise Katumbi, who has been barred from entering the country to contest the election, said on Friday they had appealed to a top court.

“We have gone to the Council of State to obtain the immediate lifting of this irregular measure”, Delly Sesanga of Katumbi’s Ensemble (Together) coalition told media.

Katumbi was refused entry last week as he tried to get home via Zambia before a deadline to submit his candidacy for the presidential polls.

The wealthy businessman and former governor of the province of Katanga has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since May 2016 after falling out with Kabila.

A country of some 80 million people, the Democratic Republic of Congo has never known a peaceful government transition since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

Kabila’s tenure over the vast mineral-rich country has been marked by a reputation for corruption, inequality and unrest. </s> President Cyril Ramaphosa has this morning, 10 August 2018, arrived in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a Working Visit. This is President Ramaphosa’s first visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo since his election as President of the Republic of South Africa in February 2018. The President and his counterpart […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa has this morning, 10 August 2018, arrived in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a Working Visit. ...



Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric... </s> Botswana has urged the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, to step down.

In a press release titled ‘Refusal by some leaders to hand over power’, the ministry of international affairs said the ‘worsening humanitarian situation’ in DRC is fulled by the fact that ‘its leader has persistently delayed holding elections, and has lost control over the security of his country’.

The statemnt concludes by urging the international community to put pressure on the leadership of DRC to relinquish power and pave way for the ushering in of a new political dispensation.

Government troops have clashed with opposition supporters following the refusal of President Kabila to leave office.

He took power in 2001 after his father’s assassination and had been expected to step down in 2016 after the two terms provided for in the constitution.

He has however stayed on citing logistical challenges that have prevented the organisation of elections that would usher in a new president.

A new date of December 23, 2018 has been set to hold the delayed poll but opposition supporters want Kabila to declare that he will not seek to change the country’s constitution to enable him seek another term in office. </s> 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> By BBC

 The new president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, has been sworn into office.

 He told supporters at a ceremony at the presidential palace in Kinshasa he wanted to build a “reconciled Congo”.

 Mr Tshisekedi was briefly taken ill before resuming his speech.

He is taking over from Joseph Kabila in the first peaceful transfer of power in the country in nearly 60 years, though many still dispute his victory in last month’s presidential election.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta was the only African head of state, out of 17 invited, to watch the ceremony.

 Numerous sources say his opponent Martin Fayulu won a landslide victory and has been denied office by a backroom deal between Mr Kabila and Mr Tshisekedi.

 The influential Catholic Church, which deployed election observers on voting day, said the official data did not match its own numbers.

Mr Fayulu’s appeal to the Constitutional Court for a vote re-count was rejected, and critics say the body is too close to outgoing President Kabila and lacks independence.

Mr Tshisekedi had to cut short his inaugural address on Thursday after feeling faint. But he returned to the podium, saying he was exhausted from the long presidential campaign and the emotion of the day.

 “We want to build a strong Congo, turned toward development in peace and security – a Congo for all in which everyone has a place,” he told the crowd.

Many people there believe the handover does show the DR Congo is becoming more democratic, the BBC’s Gaïus Kowene in Kinshasa reports.

Addressing the nation on Wednesday, Mr Kabila called on Congolese citizens to support his successor, who he said could call on him for advice at any time. </s> KINSHASA. – Opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi has been sworn in as the president of the , succeeding in the vast central African country’s first transfer of power through an election in 59 years of independence.

In his speech before a cheering crowd of supporters on Thursday, President Tshisekedi said that the country will not be one of “division, hate or tribalism”.

“We want to build a strong Congo in its cultural diversity. We will promote its development in peace and security. A Congo for each and every one, where everybody has his or her own place,” he said.

President Tshisekedi’s speech, however, was momentarily disrupted when he “collapsed on the podium”, according to Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller, who was at the inauguration in the capital Kinshasa.

However, President Tshisekedi was able to resume after a few minutes.

President Tshisekedi’s victory in the December 30 election was marred by accusations he struck a backroom deal with the outgoing president to deny victory to the strong opposition candidate, Martin Fayulu.

Thousands of President Tshisekedi supporters, many of them dressed in white, gathered outside the Palace of the Nation, the seat of the presidency in Kinshasa, to celebrate the grand event.

“We hope that this will be a real change, especially as he has taken power without bloodshed,” said Saddam Kongolo, a member of President Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS).

One of President Tshisekedi’s first tasks will be to appoint a prime minister in a move which will see him sharing power with Kabila’s supporters, who hold an overwhelming majority in the parliament.

Al Jazeera’s Miller said that Tshisekedi now faces the challenge of uniting the country after a divisive election.

President Tshisekedi needs to “speak to people who support Martin Fayulu, who said that the elections were rigged”, she said.

A country the size of continental western Europe, DR Congo has lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003.

The last two presidential elections, in 2006 and 2011 – both won by Kabila, were marred by bloody clashes.

The ballot, which took place after three postponements, surprised many by the lack of violence, but a political storm swiftly brewed over the vote count.

Among foreign nations attending the ceremony, Kenya and Zambia were represented by their presidents and Tanzania by its vice presidents, according to the RTNC state television, while China, France, Japan and the United States sent their ambassadors, the journalists of AFP news agency saw.

“The opposition has run out of recourse to challenge the election results and the threat of widespread post-election violence is gradually subsiding,” said Robert Besseling of EXX Africa, a business risk consultancy.

President Tshisekedi took over the UDPS, DRC’s oldest and largest opposition party, after the death of its founder, his father Etienne, about two years ago.

In his speech, he paid tribute to his father, referring to him as “president” – a nod to the late leader’s declaration of himself as president after losing the disputed 2011 election to Kabila.

Beyond the challenge of uniting a fractured country, President Tshisekedi also has to deal with the brutal militias who control parts of the country’s strife-torn east where an epidemic is also unfolding.

He also has to meet the expectations of his supporters about easing poverty, which afflicts the vast majority of the country’s 80 million citizens.

The DRC boasts a treasure trove of minerals, ranging from gold and diamonds to copper and coltan – a mineral essential for the batteries used in hand-held electronic devices. – Al Jazeera/News agencies </s> Seven opposition leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday picked little known lawmaker Martin Fayulu as their joint candidate for key and long delayed presidential elections at the end of December when longstanding ruler Joseph Kabila stands down.

Fayulu, the leader of the Engagement for Citizenship and Development party, will stand against Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, a hardline former interior minister backed by Kabila in the December 23 vote, a statement said after three days of gruelling talks in Geneva.

The opposition leaders meeting in the Swiss city included two heavyweights in former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba and ex-provincial governor Moise Katumbi. Both have been barred from standing in the election.

Three others besides the 61-year-old Fayulu had been authorised to contest the poll: Felix Tshisekedi, head of the long-standing UDPS opposition party; Vital Kamerhe, a former National Assembly speaker; and former finance minister Freddy Matungulu.

"I'm sure we will succeed in making our country democratic, free and independent," Fayulu told a news conference after the vote.

The elections are critical for the future of the DRC, a sprawling, mineral-rich country that has never experienced a peaceful transition of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

Kabila, 47, has been in power since 2001 at the helm of a regime with a reputation for corruption, incompetence and human rights abuses.

His second and final elected term in office ended nearly two years ago, but he stayed in office thanks to a caretaker clause in the constitution.

Months of speculation over his intentions, marked by protests that were repressed at a cost of dozens of lives, ended in August when he threw his weight behind Ramazani Shadary.

On October 25, opposition parties agreed in Johannesburg to name a joint candidate by November 15. </s> Opposition Calls For Democratic Republic Of The Congo's President To Step Down

Tensions have been building in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since December, when the president's term ended but elections weren't held. He's still in office and many are angry about that.

To the Democratic Republic of Congo next, where political tension is mounting. Opposition is calling for the president to step down. A peace deal has stalled. Here's NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton.

OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: Planned nationwide protests against DR Congo's president fell flat this week after the authorities banned gatherings of more than 10 people. Instead, the normally bustling capital, Kinshasa, was a ghost town. But that won't stop opposition to President Joseph Kabila says Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, Congolese political analyst at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

GEORGES NZONGOLA-NTALAJA: He is in power because of force. He controls the force and the fact that the international community has allowed that to continue.

QUIST-ARCTON: After 16 years in power, Kabila's two-term presidential limit expired in December. The opposition accuses him of delaying overdue elections last year to buy time. Failure to hold a vote led to protests and a deadly crackdown.

QUIST-ARCTON: Ceremonial guards stand to attention ahead of a rare address to Parliament by President Kabila last week.

QUIST-ARCTON: Kabila pledged to hold elections, salvage political deal mediated by influential Catholic bishops and appoint a prime minister from the opposition. That last move has split the opposition, which rejects the new prime minister they say was unilaterally named by Kabila. The opposition says Bruno Tshibala does not represent them and was kicked out of the alliance last month. Again, Congolese analyst Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja.

NZONGOLA-NTALAJA: The people in Kinshasa are up in arms against this decision

QUIST-ARCTON: Kabila has warned against foreign meddling in Congo's affairs but he's under fire from the Trump administration. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley is talking tough about Congo, questioning the U.N. peacekeeping mission's relationship with the Kabila leadership.

NIKKI HALEY: The government is corrupt. In other words, the U.N. is aiding a government that is inflicting predatory behavior against its own people.

QUIST-ARCTON: Congo watchers say the Catholic Church must again step in to try to end the political stalemate. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR news, Dakar. </s> Civilians gather as they listen to the Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila addressing the nation outside Palais du Peuple in the capital Kinshasa, April 5, 2017. Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila pledged on Wednesday to restore order to the country's restive Kasai region, where a worsening insurgency poses the most serious threat to his 16-year rule.

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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with President Joseph Kabila of DR Congo in Kinshasa, praising him for his "respect for the constitution" by agreeing to step down and not take part in the upcoming December 2018 Congolese general election.