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President Joseph Kabila |
Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has rejected President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of former President Thabo Mbeki as South Africa’s Special Envoy to that country.
Mbeki’s appointment was confirmed by Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela
Diko at the weekend, after the summit of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) in Windhoek.
At first Kabila’s government appeared to welcome the appointment. DRC
minister of communication and government spokesman Lambert Mende said
on Monday that his government had been informed of the decision and was
open to any proposals from SADC.
But later Kabila’s foreign policy adviser Barnabe Kikaya bin Karubi
told DRC media that Kabila’s government would not be accrediting any
further special envoys to DRC. He said that the special envoys of the
past, including those of the European Union, the UK and the US, had not
served the DRC’s interests.
Kikaya singled out the two last US special envoys to the Great Lakes,
Ross Feingold and Tom Perriello, who had occasionally been sharply
critical of Kabila, particularly for extending his term of office which
was supposed to have expired in December 2016.
As a result, Kikaya said, Kabila’s government would not be accrediting any more special envoys.
The DRC decision to turn down South Africa’s
proposal for a special envoy has raised concerns among Congo watchers
that Kabila is trying to ensure that the presidential and parliamentary
elections scheduled for 23 December are conducted with the minimum of
outside scrutiny.
Kabila was supposed to stand down in December 2016 after his second
term in office ended. The DRC’s constitution stipulates that presidents
may only stand for two terms.
But Kabila did not stand down, citing logistical impediments to
elections, including an outdated voters’ roll. His government later
agreed to hold elections in December 2018 but Kabila kept everyone
guessing about whether or not he would run again.
It was only in August that he announced he would retire before the elections.
This prompted a collective sigh of relief in the region and beyond.
But many observers remain concerned that after Kabila’s announcement
that he would not run again, the region and the international community
may have lost interest in DRC.
This would give Kabila’s ruling clique the opportunity to manoeuvre
during the elections to ensure Kabila’s anointed successor, Emmanuel
Shadary, does not enable Kabila to pull the strings from behind the
scenes.
The rejection of Mbeki as special envoy to DRC and the Great Lakes is
especially surprising since Mbeki, both as deputy president and as
president, devoted enormous effort to resolving the DRC conflict.
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