Published in congo research group at May 9 2017 If political elite opinion is anything to go by, free and fair elections may not happen any time soon in the Congo. Today, the government of prime minister Bruno Tshibala was announced, and it included several former opposition stalwarts who had been holding out for years against Kabila. […]

Originally published in washingtonpost by Judith Verweijen at April 3 at 7:00 AM Last week, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, of “aiding a government that is inflicting predatory behavior against its own people.” This assessment appeared to justify the budget cuts to the […]

Published  by Crisis group on 21 March 2017 Conflict in the impoverished Kasai region was sparked by local grievances but has spread to reflect wider discontent, including frustration over the country’s ongoing political and economic crisis. The Kamuina Nsapu insurgency arose last year as a locally rooted conflict in the Kasai-Central province of the Democratic […]

Policy Briefing 28 February 2017 The European network for Central Africa calls on European ministers for new targeted sanctions against Congolese officials As the European Foreign Affairs Ministers are due to discuss the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the next Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 6 March 2017, the European Network for Central Africa […]

The latest accord is significant but the real question is why Kabila made such major concessions. By Stephanie Wolters for ISS TODAY. Originally published published by ISS Today On January 1, the Congolese population awoke to the surprising news that political actors in the country had signed a comprehensive political accord that sets elections for […]

Originally published on Nytimes at February 17, 2017 NAIROBI, Kenya — The video opens with a squad of soldiers walking down a sandy, sunlit road toward a group of people who are chanting. Then the soldiers — who appear to be uniformed members of the national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo, accompanied by a […]

By Obi Anyadike Originally published  on Naïrobi, 15 February 2017 at irinnews.org Foreign military intervention in Africa is controversial when it happens, and occasionally controversial when it doesn’t. It’s a symptom of the fragility of African states, and the power of external interests. The long and inglorious history of intervention runs from colonial and post-colonial […]

The death of opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, is being used as leverage by both sides of the political divide. By Stephanie Wolters Originally published on 15 Feb 2017 at issafrica.org The sudden death on 2 February of Etienne Tshisekedi – the long-time opposition leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – is more […]

The best way to honour Tshisekedi is to take on the fight for democracy in DR Congo Posted on February 7, 2017 by Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja Now more than ever, we must heed the late politician’s declaration that, ultimately, the people must take responsibility for themselves. With the veteran opposition figure out of the picture, the […]

Global Economic Prospects: Sub-Saharan Africa Weak Investment in Uncertain Times January 2017 Recent developments: Growth in the Sub-Saharan Africa region is estimated to have slowed to a 1.5 percent rate in 2016, the weakest pace in over two decades, as commodity exporting economies adjusted to low prices1. On a per capita basis, regional GDP contracted […]

How a Dispute Between Comrades in Congo Sparked Africa’s Deadliest War A Congolese president’s decision to expel Rwandan troops changed the face of Central Africa. By Philip Roessler , Harry Verhoeven On 12/31/16 at 7:00 AM http://europe.newsweek.com/how-dispute-between-friends-congo-sparked-africas-deadliest-war-534272?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=/how-dispute-between-friends-congo-sparked-africas-deadliest-war-534272?rm=eu Near midnight on Monday July 27, 1998, less than two days after Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the president of the […]

DR CONGO: CONGOLESE ARE HOSTAGES AND VICTIMS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY DR CONGO: CONGOLESE ARE HOSTAGES AND VICTIMS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY 17/12/2016 By Ishiaba Kasonga By its history, the status of the Congo has always wavered between a sovereign state or under the tutelage of United Nations. Nevertheless all data show that the Congo […]

Jean-Jacques Wondo calls for the creatin of the republican army pact in the DRC Following its article L’armée et la police congolaises : le rempart ultime contre la violation de la Constitution. Jean-Jacques Wondo calls on the army and the Congolese security services to seal the citizen and republican pact Armée-Nation, essential to the consolidation […]

DR Congo-Badibanga : Towards an Unconstitutional State By Boniface Musavuli The Congolese discovered, on November 17, 2016, the name of the new Prime minister in the person of Samy Badibanga, elected MP in the constituency of Mont-Amba/Kinshasa. The nomination took place thirty-two days before the end of President Kabila’s second and last term, and thirty […]

Appointment of Samy Badibanga: a strategy from the archives of the late Maréchal Mobutu By Jean-Bosco Kongolo M. The wait has been long, very long even for Kabila to find the person best suited to fill the position left vacant at the prime minister’s office by the man with the red tie, forced to abandon […]

DR Congo : Not words, only EU action and targeted sanctions can prevent further escalation of violence By EurAc, 22 September 2016, PRESS RELEASE In order to prevent a dangerous increase of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after two days of political turmoil in Kinshasa, the European Union (EU) must take stronger […]

RVI/PSRP and Egmont Institute Panel discussion  

2016 DRC election : Matter of how to avoid an overstayed Joseph Kabila By Ishiaba Kasonga In the case of DRC, Political statements such as support of electoral process, sanctions and suspension of international aids are not enough to put pressure and to stop Joseph Kabila’s clinging on power as these strategies are mainly designed to […]

DR Congo: Free Youth Activists One Year Since Fred Bauma, Yves Makwambala Detained (Kinshasa, March 15, 2016) – Congolese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release two activists who were arrested one year ago during a pro-democracy youth workshop in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said today. Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala face trumped-up […]

Dispatches: Time Has Not Run Out in DR Congo Ida Sawyer Senior Researcher, Democratic Republic of Congo (HRW) FEBRUARY 10, 2016  The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee is due to hold a hearing today on “good governance” in central Africa, something this troubled region desperately lacks. The timing could not be more crucial. There […]

“JOSEPH KABILA’S” MASS ECO-ATROCITIES THAT COP21 SHOULD NOT IGNORE By Ishiaba Kasonga Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) -a country of great environmental value with one of the world’s remaining intact forest that accounts for more than half of Africa’s forest- is ecologically under sustained and constant threats because it is no nation-state.    A Call to save the Congo Basin […]

Congo-Kinshasa : Que cache cet acharnement pour le dialogue ? Par Jean-Bosco Kongolo Il avait peut-être raison, celui qui a dit qu’ « en guerre comme en amour, pour en finir, il faut se voir de près. » Oui, mais dans ces deux cas différents, les résultats attendus ne peuvent pas être les mêmes. En effet, si en amour […]

DRC : a pre-explosive political and security situation in the ex-Katanga ? By Jean-Jacques Wondo Omanyundu The tense political evolution of these last months in Democratic Republic of Congo, basing on our strategic analyses of risk assessment, shows that Kinshasa, the Katanga as well as the North and the South Kivu risk falling in political […]