The Democratic Republic of the Congo is living through a time of fierce political and social tensions due to the bid of the President Joseph Kabila to hold himself in power which he has had since 2001. On December 31, 2016 the Government and Opposition signed an accord called the Agreement of “St. Silvester” in which they agreed to hold elections before the end of 2017. Later however, the Electoral Commission announced that elections could not be held until 2019. In its most recent announcement, the Commission announced that presidential elections would be held on December 23 2018, two years after they should have taken place.
In the month of January, the Catholic church and other organizations in opposition made the “final call” to Kabila to declare that he would not be a candidate in the coming elections. Moreover, they demanded that the Government take steps preliminary to holding elections, the liberation of political prisoners , the return of exiled leaders of the opposition, the reopening of closed down media outlets, and the restructuring of the national election commission.
In response to the President’s NO, the Catholic church recently convoked two demonstrations, one on December 31 and the other January 21. After the parish Mass on Sunday the Christians came out in peaceful demonstration. The repression of the police and the army with gas and live ammunition killed tens and there were hundreds of injured and detained.
Some of our sscc brothers in Kinshasa found themselves in the police sweep-up; however, fortunately all are free at this moment.
The United Nations and the European Union have expressed their concern for the actions of the armed forces during these protests and has petitioned the protection of citizens without reprimand. Pope Francis has made repeated calls for peace in the DRC, most recently during his trip to Peru.
The result is that the situation goes from bad to worse with the breakdown of infrastructure and law and order in disarray, practically nonexistent. At this time, an epidemic of cholera has broken out in Kinshasa and elsewhere in the country.
01/23/2018