Is Congo (DR) preparing himself for a very important event this year? Some people will say "yes". Congo is expected to hold what western newspapers and broadcasters are calling the very first democratic elections to resolve the legitimacy crisis since the coming of Mobutu in power in 1964! Congolese politics see in the forthcoming elections a way to end the long transition period started by Mobutu in 1990. However, the main opposition led by Tshisekedi has been left our of the elections boat!

Four major events or sequence of events have prepared the 2006 elections.

1. Sovereign National Conference of 1990.

April 24th 1990, Mobutu took the legal step of stopping monopartism in the country. This brought in freedom of expression and associations. Multipartism was introduced. With it, free expression and a certain political emulation came.

2. AFDL uprising and military success.

October 8th 1996, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and many other african countries supported by USA and Great Britain backed a military force against Mobutu's regime. This ended by the arriving of Laurent Kabila in Kinshasa as President. Even though, Congolese society was prepared for change, non- violent opposition led by Tshisekedi was not able to unscrew Mobutu's regime. Kabila's military coalition did it. That was a change.

3. Second Military War and uprising of dozen of military groups

August 2nd, 1998 saw a new bloody war ravaging Congo and particularly its civilians. Kabila's former allies wanted him out of power! They succeeded only by having him killed and by keeping the regime with the son, Joseph Kabila. Change of leader, no change for the civilians who will continue to die like flies (1400 every day says UN). Massive rapes, massacres, crimes against humanity, crimes of war will be predominant during this period.

4. Inter Congolese Dialogue or the Pretoria Agreement

Congolese military groups were called for peace talks in Lusaka(1999) and Pretoria(2002) were they reached an agreement. These talks included Rwanda, Burundi and Ouganda, inter alia, who surprisingly shaped its content. Power sharing was reached, political leaders left their local political HQs and took office in Kinshasa. While the Agreement made army reunification a key point for peace in the country, this point will be deliberately left out by the Transitional Government who has never solved the army lack of integration and salary pay. Corruption has widespread in the Transitional Government making the army corruption the edge of the iceberg.

5. Referendum and New Constitution

The Transitional Government had the credit of writing a new Constitution and proposing it to a National Referendum. Even though problems have surrounded the Constitutional Referendum and people's education about it, it has the credit of being a democratic exercice of rights. With the coming into law of the new Constitution, a new political era has come in the Congo, at least on papers!
The forthcoming elections are supposed to be the time for the population to choose leaders who will translate the constitution letter and spirit into reality.
The big challenges is to find fresh blood among the 32 Presidential Candidates who will run for presidency. Let it be said that all the candidates pay a registration fee of 50 000 dollars each! In a country where a civil servant gets 10 dollars salary a month, there is something ticklish.

I will tell you next time the challenges the new President and his government will face in my next blog or article (unfortunately, it is in french).