Summary

Editorial: The search for the truth of the polls

1. Civil Society denounces killings and abductions

2. Etienne Tshisekedi is sworn in

3. Looting of the headquarters of the UDPS in Limete

4. Compiling the results of the General Election 2011

5. SMS service is resumed

6. The President of the Senate becomes victim of attack in Paris

Editorial: The search for the truth of the polls

The arrival of a group of foreign electoral experts

The Congolese electoral commission (CENI) is continuing to publish partial results from the general election. However, many of the losing candidates spoke of irregularities and fraud throughout. The electoral commission even stopped compiling the results, while they awaited the arrival of a group of international experts who could help them make the results more credible. On the 4th January, a group of American electoral experts arrived in Kinshasa, although the CENI had already restarted compiling the results of the general election. According to one source, they are said to have accompanied the CENI in the operation to compile the results, in order to most easily identify cases of fraud and irregularity, and to suggest necessary corrections. But now that the work of compiling the results is close to completion, what is their task?

Some members of the opposition have expressed concern in this regard because they claim that many documents have been falsified or remain unaccounted for. In addition, since the general election took place on the same day as the presidential elections, in the same seats and with the same number of voters, they ask “why limit the work of a group of international experts merely to the results of the general election? This could also be extended to the results of the presidential election”.

Of course, the work of a group of experts could help the CENI bring more transparency to the electoral process as a whole, across the various different stages. Even though at the start, the task of the group of experts had been thought of as being a presence of support and collaboration, now that the work is almost finished, the tasks should change to become one of performing checks and verification, most notably concerning the cases of irregularities and electoral fraud which have been highlighted.

The Congolese people have the right to know the truth of the polls

Indeed, the Congolese people have the inalienable right to know the true outcome of the votes which have been cast. The president of the electoral commission and even the President of the Republic have recognised the irregularities and limitations of the elections of the 28th November. However, it is not enough simply to recognise this; the necessary changes must also be brought about.

The irregularities which have been noted at an organisational level, and the electoral frauds committed in view of the whole world should be sanctioned as per electoral law.

The final results should be corrected to be in line with the reality of the votes cast at the polls, which should be established by a “recount of the votes”, at least in contentious cases. A rigorous comparison could be carried out of the results featuring in the minutes displayed in the voting offices, after the counting of the voting papers, of which witnesses from the political parties have a copy, those obtained by the observers (national and international) and those provided by the electoral commission. It is only the reality of the votes cast at the polls which can determine the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the one who is elected to be President of the Republic, and those who are elected as members of parliament.

The acts of violence, which constitute violations of human rights, which have been committed with the intention of suppressing the protests of the people during the electoral period should be judged and punished according to the law.

The truth about the elections as a road towards democracy and peace

The Congolese people have already suffered too much. One just needs to recall the last five years from the first rebellions barely after independence, the thirty years of dictatorship, the eight years of war, with more than six million deaths, the last five years with irresponsible politicians (not to mention the corruption, illicit accumulation of personal wealth, violations of human rights and constitutional principals…) but always protected by impunity.

The Congolese people will no longer stand for seeing women raped every day, they will no longer pay the monthly premium of teachers, they will no longer tolerate war criminals amongst the heads of the army, they will no longer accept the mineral wealth of the country being illegally exploited by international mining societies, without any economic advantage for the local populations. Finally, they will absolutely not accept seeing their own will being stolen by the polls.

The Congolese people demand the truth of the polls, in order to be able to continue along the road to democracy, to justice, to respect for human rights, to peace and to development.

 

1. The civil society denounces the killings and abductions

On 21st December, in a press release entitled “Against the witch hunt”, the NGO The Voice of the Voiceless (VSV) denounced a series of cases of abductions and disappearances, which had been registered in the few days preceding the declaration of the provisional results of the presidential elections on the 28th November. Indeed, the information from the VSV reports abductions of numerous people by armed men dressed in the outfit of the National Congolese Police and of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo), notably the Republican Guard (GR). Some of these victims were taken to an unknown destination. Many of the victims are said to have been held in the cells of the National Information Agency (ANR), the battalion PM/ Camp Kokolo, of the staff of the Military Intelligence (ex-DEMIAP), the Colonel Tshatshi Military Camp, the Marble Palace, GLM etc. In all these detention centres, the victims are refused visits and are said to be subjected to torture and other punishments or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. The victims are suspected of being militants of the UDPS. The VSV calls for:

– a halt to the witch hunt in all areas of the country

– to know the location of all the victims who have been abducted or held prisoner, and the preservation of their lives and their physical and psychological integrity

– the immediate liberation of the victims held captive, or presenting them before competent courts if they have been accused of serious crimes

– the opening of an independent enquiry to shed light on these abductions, illegal captivities, and the allegations of torture in order to sanction the perpetrators of these acts, those who are giving them orders and other perpetrators of other such attacks against the integrity of human dignity and life

– the protection of all people and their property, regardless of their political, ethic, or provincial affiliation

On the 22nd December, in a report, the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the security forces of Joseph Kabila’s regime of having killed “at least 24 people” and of having “arbitrarily” arrested more than a dozen others, between 9th and 14th December. 20 have been killed “in Kinshasa, two in North Kivu (east) and two in West Kasai” writes the NGO, which works for the defence of human rights, and which particularly denounces the police and the republican guard, which are responsible for the security of the presidential offices. HRW estimates that since the contested re-election of Joseph Kabila on the 9th December “the security forces have fired at small crowds, apparently to stop the protests against the result of the election”. Human Rights Watch stated that amongst those killed there were militants and followers, as well as people who were questioned in the street, or even in their own houses. Amongst the victims were a 21-year-old woman and her eight-year-old niece, both of whom were killed by gunfire when the police fired upon a crowd of opposition ‘followers’ in the capital on the day that the results of the election were announced.

For Anneke Van Woudenberg, researcher for Africa at HRW, “these bloody operations weaken the electoral process and give the impression that the government will revert to anything to stay in power”. HRW, which “has received dozens of notifications of other murders and attacks by the security forces which they are looking to verify”, estimates that the final toll of the repression could be higher. “It seems that the police and the other security forces mask the extent of the murders by quickly disposing of the bodies”, maintains the NGO. Similarly, the sources are said to have informed HRW that “the government has apparently instructed the hospitals and the morgues not to provide information concerning the number of deaths, nor details about the individuals injured by bullets to members of their families, to human rights defence groups or to staff of the United Nations”. Some families have found the bodies of their loved ones in the morgues situated far from Kinshasa, which could indicate that the bodies have been transported to outlying areas.

Thus, there are murders, but not just murders. Since the 9th December, the security forces have stopped all forms of gathered groups, blocking “by force, any attempts made by groups of the opposition from organising peaceful protests against the irregularities of the [presidential] election”. They have “arrested a certain number of organisers on the false accusation of threat to national security”, states the press release. Human Rights Watch calls for “The United Nations and the DRC’s international partners” to “demand with all urgency that the government regain control of the security forces”. According to Human Rights Watch “the government should order the immediate release of all those held in captivity, and undertake an impartial investigation in order to establish the responsibilities regarding the murders which have been committed, the illegal arrests and the poor treatment inflicted upon the detainees.”

 

2. The “Swearing-In” of Etienne Tshisekedi

On the 23rd December, the Congolese authorities banned the opposition’s planned rally in Kinshasa for the “swearing-in” of Etienne Tshiskedi. “There is no protest, it is banned. There is already an elected president who has been sworn in. A new one cannot be sworn in, it is an act of subversion. This act against the Constitution must be stopped”, declared one source close to the head of the Congolese police. Four armoured vehicles from the Republican Guard and a sizable police operation were visible in the area surrounding the Stade des Martyrs. The authorities cordoned off the Limete municipality, in the east of the capital, where Mr.Tshisekedi lives, not far from the headquarters of his party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). The police dispersed the crowd with tear gas close to the home of Etienne Tshisekedi and the Stade des Martyrs. Many dozens of people were arrested. The rest of the town remains calm however; the businesses are open and taxis were running.

The official invitation card for the “swearing-in ceremony of the President Elect” Mr Tshisekedi, titled “President of the Republic, Protocol of the state” gave a detailed programme of the running order of the morning, notably with the minuted arrival of “superior military officials and national police”, “high magistrates”, “ambassadors”, and even “presidents and delegation from our brother countries and friends”.

In the middle of the afternoon, faced with the impossibility of getting to the Stade des Martyrs, Mr Tshisekedi was sworn in at his own home, in the presence of many dozens of his followers and politicians of the opposition. “I, Etienne Tshisekedi WaMulumba, elected President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I solemnly swear in front of God and the nation to observe and defend the constitution and the laws of the Republic, to maintain its independence and the integrity of the land and to protect national unity”, declared Mr Tshisekedi, with his right hand raised and his left hand on a bible, before announcing in a short speech that in the coming days a “programme of government” would be published. Outside the surrounding areas of the state des martyrs the town remained calm, the businesses were open and the taxis were running.

On the 27th December, during a press conference in the parish of Notre-Dame de Fatime, the secretary general of UDPS, Jacquemin Shabani, confirmed that seven people had been killed and more than 540 had been arrested on the 23rd December, during confrontations between police and militants from the UPDS who wanted to enter the Stade des Martyrs to help with the swearing-in ceremony of Tshisekedi. According to Jacquemin Shabani, there had been identified and unidentified deaths of people mown down by bullets around the Stade des Martyrs, the Kasa-Vubu bridge, at the crossing of Masimanimba and Matonge roads, and the junction of Ethiopia and Inzia roads, and the headquarters of the UDPS in Limete.

However General Bisengimana, the head of the National Police, denied the facts: “With regard to Friday’s events, some arrests were made, that I will recognise. On Saturday, those who had been taken in for questioning were released. As for the deaths, I don’t know anything about those, aside from the person who died from electrocution in the municipality of Kalamu, after walking into an electric wire”. Mr. Shabani added that his party would move heaven and earth to make sure that those who committed the acts and those behind the murders are brought before competent courts, national and international, notably the International Criminal Court (CPI).

The UDPS provided a list of victims of Friday 23rd December

a. list of people killed::

1. SUMBI BABY killed by a bullet in the area surrounding the Stade des Martrys

2. KABONGO LUSAMBA killed on the Kasavubu bridge

3. KILOMONP MASIKAMA killed at the junction of Rue Masimanimba and Quartier Matonge

4, 5 and 6: 3 people, who have not yet been identified, killed at the junction of Avenue Ethiopie and Rue Inzia in the Kasavabu Commune; the bodies were carried away by the RG.

7. KINGOTOLO killed at the headquarters of the UDPS during a rampage by fractions of the police

 

b. list of people who have been abducted and have disappeared:

1. MUTOMBO DONAT

2. BRUNO KONGOLU MPOYI

3. NYENGELE ILUNGA Gustave

4. BOBO Nvubu Charles, known as‘PITCHA’

 

C. Report of arrests

1. PIR/KASAVUBU: 85

2. COMMUNE KASAVUBU: 35

3. CAMP LUFUNGULA: 110

4. ANR: 60

5. CAMP TSHATSHI: 12

6. MALUKU (SIFORCO): 73

7. CIRCO: 80

8. POLICE KINGABWA (Point chaud): 30

9. POLICE TP (Kingabwa): 56

10. COMMUNE KALAMU: 32

11. COMMUNE DE BARUMBU: 13

12. MATETEDISTRICT: 25

13. TSHANGUDISTRICT: 35

14. CENTRAL: 36

 

3. Looting of the headquarters of the UDPS in Limete

On the 23rd December, while the municipality of Limete, home to Etienne Tshisekedi, was under police control, unidentified men looted the headquarters of the UDPS. Witnesses confirmed they had seen white pick-up trucks, similar to those of the police, parked amongst the houses on the 10th street. The occupants of the trucks, men in civilian clothing, are said to have then gone into the headquarters of the UDPS and to have taken documents, computers, furniture and household appliances. According to the secretary general of UDPS, Jacquemin Shabani, the stolen goods were then transported to the office of the rapid intervention police, located on Avenue Victorie, in the Matonge district, in the commune of Kalamu. In the statement set out by UDPS, it emerges that a member of the party named Kingotolo died during this rampage. The attack happened during the night, some hours after Etienne Tshisekedi’s ‘swearing-in’ ceremony at his residence, located in the same area as the headquarters of the party. Jacquemin Shabani re-confirmed the party’s decision to make a complaint to the competant judicial authorities.

On the 26th December, the guard assigned to the security of Etienne Tshisekedi, with the remit of providing protection of the candidates of the presidential elections, has been removed from Tshisekedi’s residence in Limete. For the time being, President Tshisekedi is only being protected by his normal guard.

On the 30th December, during a press conference taking place in the parish of Notre-Dame de Fatime the secretary general of UDPS, Jacquemain Shabani, denounced the numerous restrictions imposed by the authorities, blocking access to the residence of Etienne Tshisekedi in the Limete district. Indeed, the house of the leader of UDPS and the whole of the surrounding area remain cordoned off by the police. UDPS even spoke of “house arrest” to invoke the sense of isolation in which the leader is being kept. “It is therefore clear that Mr. Tshisekedi has had his freedom taken from him, despite far-fetched denial of this from those in power… According to corroborating and credible sources, the security put in place around his residence has deliberately hidden his isolation, with the intention either to eliminate him physically or to deport him to an unknown destination”, said Jacquemain Shabani.

The government denies this and repeats that the police are there to protect the population. As a result of a meeting with a delegate from the opposition, the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Security, Adolphe Lumanu, announced that the security systems put in place between the 20th and 23rd December around the home of Etienne Tshisekedi would be reduced after an evaluation of the practicalities. According to the Minister of Interior, the leader of the UDPS is free and the security systems were put in place in the interests of public order and even in Tshisekedi’s own interests.

On the 31st December, from his residence in Kinshasa where around thirty people waited for him in order to present their wishes, Etienne Tshisekedi announced to the press that there was “absolutely no crisis” in the DRC, of which he declared himself the ‘President Elect’, rejecting the contested victory of the exiting head of state Joseph Kabila. “There is absolutely no crisis whatsoever at the head of the Congo, none at all!”, the leader of the UDPS confirmed to the press. “To govern, you need two things. First, legitimacy, and I already have this legitimacy amongst the Congolese people. The second thing which I need, is what is called “imperium”, that is to say, the forces of law and order”, he clarified. “Things will return to order. There is no crisis at the head of the Congo”, insisted Etienne Tshisekedi who underlined that he needed to “give some time” to the security forces, so that they “would understand that the legitimacy had changed, that it is no longer Kabila, it’s Tshisekedi” who is leading the DRC.

With regard to the arrival of international experts to track the compilation of results of the general election, he asks, “What have they come to do here? On what basis are they going to make decisions? All the reports have been falsified. They have come and wasted their time for nothing. They have just come as tourists”.

 

4. Compiling the results of the General Election 2011

After the debate surrounding the official result of the presidential elections, which is far from being over, another ballot has been brought into question. Organised at the same time as the presidential election, on the 28thNovember last year, the general election is equally at the centre of a controversy. The candidates, witnesses and observers confirmed that the results that had been published so far did not reflect the reality of the votes which had been cast at the polls. These results apparently do not correspond with those which were displayed in the voting offices, in the evening or the day after the ballot.

During the compilation of the results the 2011 general election, CENI officials are accused of having falsified the results to benefit certain candidates.

The compilation centres were inundated by candidates who hovered around outside like vultures. Some officials from CENI have been put under pressure to reverse the results, and are said to have added some votes to one candidate and taken then away from others. Some candidates confirmed they have “irrefutable” evidence that the reports had been falsified in favour of certain candidates. Sometimes the results which arrived at the compilation centre did not correspond with those which had been registered in the voting office. In some electoral wards the witnesses were excluded from the counting of the vote and the compilation of the results; uncivil and dishonest acts which only served to distort the vote and to falsify the reality of the votes which had been cast.

Another assessment: this exuberance, this anticipated joy, this arrogance of some of the candidates who declared “their victory” from the rooftops. They are absolutely convinced of their victory as if the vote was no longer worth anything, and in perverse language, they declared to anyone who wanted to listen that they “didn’t see how they would lose the election”, they who had already had a “some experience” in this type of competition (sic). Everything happened as if the writing was already on the wall so that the reality of the votes cast was falsified. A flood of contests of the vote must however be expected considering that there are 18,386 candidates for the parliament. Those who have been thwarted do not all necessarily have the manner of alter boys, naively accepting the results with a large smile. Clashes could take place in many corners of every province and merely serve to accentuate the political crisis which is becoming apparent every day.

On the 16th December the CENI decided to temporarily stop collecting the results of the general election in all the local compilation centres (CLCR). The Vice-President Jacques Djoli asserted that this decision was taken to “try to re-centre the officials in order to translate the expression of the electorate such as it has been expressed”.

He also announced that a technical agreement with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation mission in the DRC (Monusco) had been signed, with the goal of limiting the likely rigging of the results in the local result compilation centres (CLCR).

On the 21st December, the CENI stopped compiling the results of the general election until the arrival of more supervision teams and international technical support. In a press release, they draw attention to “numerous grievances which they have received from the candidates and political organisations”. The CENI started to publish the provisional results of around thirty of the wards on their website, but the publication of the remaining 140 wards is “subordinated, and dependent upon examination of the complaints” which they “have obtained and are considering”.

Elsewhere the CENI ordered the local results compilation centres, which had already finished the work of compiling the results and transmitting the minutes, to defer the publication of the minutes and the compilation forms until they had been confirmed. It added however, that it would continue to publish partial results of the centres which had finished compiling, sending and displaying the results, and which had not been the object of any complaints. The CENI also added that it would not publish the contested results until it had examined the complaints.

Jacques Djoli, Vice-President of the CENI, notably mentioned an “enormous pressure” placed upon the CLCRs, as 19,000 candidates competed for only 500 seats in power in the National Assembly. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) should work from now on in “partnership” with the CENI teams to compile the results, and Great Britain and the United States could provide assistance, added M Djoli. The international technical team which CENI had called in will help them to validate the results and support the teams which are working on the ground. According to opponent Martin Munkokole, the CENI’s decision to suspend the compilation should have been taken sooner and for both ballots because both of them were besmirched with irregularities.

On the 27th December the CENI announced the that they would be resuming the work of compiling the results of the general election on the following day, the 28th December, following the arrival of foreign experts supposed to assure the transparency of the process. The CENI added that the publication of results against which there had not been any complaints deemed to be founded would follow. Discussions were taking place with the United States and Great Britain, who offered technical assistance from teams of experts, but neither the CENI nor the authorities were able to specify the date of their arrival to the DRC, the exact mandate, nor the number of experts. An official from the American state department announced that the American federal development aid agency, USAID, was discussing a “choice of experts with many reappointed organisations and was thinking that the team would arrive in Kinshasa during the first week of January”. He did not, however, specify whether these experts would come from organisation like the Carter Centre, the International Republican Institute or the National Democratic Institute, who all have experience in the area.

A number of questions were raised when the local compilation centres restarted compiling the results of the general election, before the international experts had arrived. Was this simply in the name of time management? Plausible argument: but debateable. By delaying the publication of the general election, which was due to be published on 13 January 2012, by some days the CENI would win much trust and credibility. They did it for the presidential elections, why not for the general elections.

For Etienne Tshisekedi’s camp, the experts should also over look the presidential elections. “It’s a bit strange to make the experts come here just for the general elections. It’s exactly the same hold-up as for the presidential elections. The two elections happened on the same day, in the same polling centres. The two ballots cannot be separated,” considers Albert Moleka, head of cabinet for Etienne Tshisekedi.

On the 3rd January the CENI had already published the results of the legislative elections for 89 of the 169 electoral wards. 219 of 500 ministers who will make up the next National Assembly are already known. The People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, for the presidential majority, lead with 32 elected members, followed by the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, of Etienne Tshisekedi, with 20 ministers. Another party of the majority which was created the night before the presidential and general elections on 28thNovember, the PPPD snapped up 16 seats. Jean-Pierre Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) already have thirteen ministers. The Social Movement for Renewal (MSR), the Unified Lumumbist party (Palu) and the Alliance for the Renewal of the Congo, three parties who have supported the candidature of Joseph Kabila in the presidential election, won respectively 12, 9 and 8 ministers. Vital Kamerhe’s Union for the Congolese Nation, Leon Kengowa Dondo’s Union for the Forces of Change, 2 opposition parties, gained respectively just six and three elected members.

On the 4th January foreign experts arrived to Kinshasa to consider the feasibility of a larger revision of the result compilation process of the general election on the 28th November. More specifically, a small group of international electoral experts provided by the American organisations the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). The team would remain in the DRC for approximately 3 weeks.

The inauguration of Joseph Kabila on the 20th December was held during an overwhelming lack of diplomatic presence. The heads of state- including the African ones- delegated their prime ministers, or one of their ministers of ambassadors. But why were there so many absences? Because the presidential election on the 28th November last year was not credible, said opponent Vital Kamerhe. At the origins of this great international sulking are of course very critical reports about the ballot from observers from the European Union and from the Carter Centre.

How can this dead-lock be broken? The two main opponents of Joseph Kabila, Etienne Tshisekedi and Vital Kamerhe, propose that the international community helps to establish an “evaluation commission” of the results of the presidential elections. Everything should be sifted through: the election board, the dispensation votes (votes cast not in the normal polling stations) and of course the counting of the ballot papers. “We need this commission to recount the vote”, confirmed Kamerhe. In support of them, 3 American NGOs, International Crisis Group, Enough Project and Eastern Congo Initiative champion the idea of international mediation. But Kabila’s camp would not hear of it. And, as a result, the Western capitals were keeping a low profile. “The recount of the presidential vote is not possible,” explained a high ranking diplomat in Paris. “However, France calls for a less catastrophic count of the general election vote [which took place on the same day, NDLR]”.

Kamerhe replied immediately: “The general election and the presidential one took place on the same day, in the same polling stations. If you accept the idea of international experts coming to help count the votes of the general election, how can you refute that they should also count the votes of the presidential elections?”

This incident says a lot about the embarrassment of the West. They know that the re-election of Joseph Kabila was “a catastrophe”. But they don’t want to shake things up. “The risk of armed conflict is too high” some said. “Tshisekedi is not respectable, he is not Ouattara” said others. In Brussels, Paris and Washington, they found themselves dreaming. “If the count of the legislative vote is transparent, the opposition will perhaps be the majority in the next assembly. Kabila will be therefore forced to cohabit with a prime minister who will force him into better governance”. That is the situation in Kenya and in Zimbabwe. Not sure if the millions of Congolese who voted for Tshisekedi would agree.

 

5. SMS service is resumed

On the 28th December the government lifted the suspension of the telephone messaging service ‘SMS’. This was declared byTharcisseMunkidji the president of the comity of telephone operators in the Federation of Businesses in the Congo.

The Congolese government nevertheless advised the mobile phone operators (VODACOM, AIRTEL, TIGO, CCT, SUPERCEL, STANDARD TELECOM) that they must identify their subscribers in order to help “the government in making decisions relating to maintaining public order” added Tharcisse Munkidji. He added that the telecommunication company operators should establish the shortfall during the periods of the suspension of the service and agree with the government how this would be recovered.

The SMS service had been suspended since 13th December after a decision from the government. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Adolphe Lumanu, justified this conservative measure by stating that its goal was to maintain public order during the electoral process, by avoiding the propagation of rumours and, in particular, of “false results” of the presidential elections of 28thNovember.

On 22ndDecember Reporters without boarders (RSF) addressed an open letter to Adolphe Lumanu Mulenda Buana N’sefu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior and Security, in which the NGO drew “attention to the abusive and anti-liberty nature of such a measure”. According to RSF “this total block on telephone messaging services constitutes an unmeasured reaction which is not unlike the practices of certain repressive regimes. By putting such a measure in place, the DRC joins the list of countries which have suspended telecommunications in order to silence protest movements, such as Egypt, Syria, Libya or indeed Kazakhstan. The current situation in the DRC is however without precedence, because the disruption on the communication networks in other countries has never exceeded a few days”. Reporters without borders added that “the block on telephone messaging services constituted a serious violation of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the relevant international human rights treaties ratified by the DRC. The fundamental right to free communication and free circulation of information have been scorned by this block which has equally hindered the work of the observers of the electoral process”. Finally, in the name of freedom of expression and the right to information, the organisation called for “all necessary measures to be taken, in order to re-establish the telephone messaging network without further delay”.

On the 28th December in their annual report entitled “Freedom of the press during the elections”, the NGO “Journalists in Danger” (JED), which acts for the defence of human rights, counted 160 cases of violation of freedom of the press in the DRC in 2011, almost half of which occurred during the electoral period, from October to December, compared to 87 in 2010.

For the Congolese NGO, the repression of the media and journalists demonstrated by threats and arrests of journalists, military attacks against the houses of members of the press (newspapers, radio and television), the banning of programmes and the closure of medias close to the opposition”.

The 160 cases of infringements of freedom of the press listed by JED in 2011 occurred in the following way:

1 journalist killed in Kiruma in North-Kivu in June 2011

42 arrests of journalists

57 cases of threats and aggression against journalists

43 cases of censorship and obstructing the circulation of information

17 cases of pressure on the media

Drawing a comparison between the years 2006 and 2011 [two electoral years in DRC], JED’s the report underlines the number of violations of freedom of the press went from 125 to 160, which is an increase of 35 cases of infringements against the freedom of journalists.

“We consider today that there is a strong degradation in the freedom of the press” said the executive secretary of JED, Tshivis Tshivuadi.

In the section of the report dedicated to the observation of media during the period of the electoral campaign, JED stated that “the Congolese media, as a whole, were engaged in a frenzy of propaganda which hid the true democratic debates surrounding the candidates and their manifestos”. JED also denounced “the deviation of the media, including the public media, into propaganda, punctuated by comments and speeches of hate incitement and violence incitement, in a climate of tension and political intolerance”.

For JED, many politicians and officials of the security services have interfered in the regulation of the medias during the electoral campaign, violating the prerogatives devolved by the Superior Council of Audiovisual and Communications (CSAC). The intrusions, underlined JED, demonstrate the failure of this body in its recognised mission to protect people’s right to access information, and to promote professionalism of the media. JED also cited cases in which media organisations had be enclosed or indefinitely suspended, citing notably Canal Futur TV, Radio Lisanga TV and two other media agencies from East Kasai.

 

6. The President of the Senate becomes victim of attack in Paris.

On 31st December the President of the Senate Léon Kengo Wa Dondo was the victim of an attack in Paris, during a private visit which had not been reported to the French authorities, who had not taken any particular security measures. Mr Kengo had arrived by train between Brussels and Paris, Gard du Nord at 5:00pm where a car with a driver was waiting for him. When he got into the vehicle, he was hit by men, who may have been fellow countrymen.

“We deplore the attack on Mr Léon Kengo Wa Dondo”, declared Bernard Valero, the spokesman of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, underlining that Kengo Wa Dondo “was in France on a private business trip with which the French authorities had not been involved. The police of course offered him help as soon as possible and the French authorities ensured that he was admitted to a Parisian hospital without delay, in order to receive treatment.

Assembled in a special meeting, the office of the Conglese Senate was said to condemn “the barbaric act” and demanded that the Congolese diaspora “in France, Belgium and the UK, use the republican values to express their demands, political as well as social, via the legal and patriotic channels”.

Etienne Tshisekedi’s UDPS denied that his fighters were implicated in the attack upon President of the Senate Léon Kengo Wa Dondo. Serge Mayamba, National Secretary of UDPS in charge of political and social relationships regretted and condemned this “hateful” act and said that it would be necessary to speak to the Congolese abroad very soon, as well as to the militants of UDPS. “The Congolese abroad are attacking all those who are working against their interests. They want change and are fighting the democracy and the installation of a state of law in DRC. It is a phenomenon of realisation for the Congolese people” he maintained, at the same time adding that UPDS has always been against violence.

According to some observers, the attackers could have been members of the Congolese diaspora who are opposed to President Joseph Kabila and rather favourable to the opposition, Etienne Tshisekedi. An inquiry is underway by the French police.

Leon Kengo called for the cancellation of the presidential elections, deeming the process to be besmirched with irregularities. But he helped to invest in a new five year term for Joseph Kabila on 20th December. For the “fighters” of the diaspora community, this “opposition in the 25th hour” rallied Joseph Kabila at the last moment. Very many rumours in fact gave the name of Leon Kengo as Joseph Kabila’s next Prime Minister; a way for the re-elected president to make a ‘gesture’ at lower cost to the opposition.

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This English translation has been possible thanks to the project Mondo Lingua: Free translation of websites for NGOs and non-profit-making organisations. A project managed by Mondo Services. Translator: Rachel Witton – www.mondo-lingua.org