ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 389 - 1/05/2000

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS

Congo RDC  - The National Consultation

POLITICS

1,700 delegates from various parts of the country met together in Kinshasa
for a National Consultation. The results were very meagre

The National Consultation was officially opened on Tuesday 29 February 2000 in Kinshasa. The proceedings took place in the Centenary Protestant Church. The gathering was organised by the religious leaders of the main Christian Churches (Protestant, Catholic, Kimbanguist, Orthodox) and of the Muslim faith, and ended on Saturday 11 March. Reverend Marini Bodho, national president of the Congolese Protestant Church, presided at the opening and closing ceremonies.

About 1,700 delegates came from various parts of the country and represented Congo’s national life (political parties, civil society, Congolese living abroad, etc). But the rebels and the most active political parties such as the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the United Lubumbist Party (PALU) of Antoine Gizenga, the Democratic and Christian Social Party (PDSC), the Popular Movement for Renewal (MPR) and the Innovative Forces for Union and Solidarity (FONUS) of Joseph Olenghankoy, didn’t accept the invitation. Also, none of the thirteen African Heads of State invited to the opening ceremony arrived in Kinshasa. The participation of the few representatives from the armed opposition remained a mystery right up to the end of the meeting: for security reasons the names of the delegates who had arrived were not revealed. Also, delegates from the armed groups didn’t want to present their contributions in public themselves and nobody from the organising committee dared read them out. And yet the proceedings were suspended on two occasions to wait for the representatives of the rebels.

Noble but controversial aims

Mr. Ngoy Mulunda, secretary-general of the All-Africa Conference of Churches (CETA), was the forum’s moderator. He set out its objectives, the principal one being to delineate markers for national reconciliation, in order to prepare the ground for the dialogue among Congolese, foreseen by the Lusaka Agreements. In order to do this, the meeting wanted: To identify the obstacles to national cohesion, peace and dialogue among Congolese; to look for the real causes of the war; to propose appropriate solutions. The conference also wanted to identify the real problems of Congolese society. Finally, according to Reverend Ngoy Mulunda, the religious leaders wanted to induce the Congolese to speak with each other, and be reconciled among themselves before doing so with others.

In spite of all that, the forum itself was the subject of controversy. Those who didn’t want to take part in it, remained convinced that the initiative had been taken over by the powers-that-be. Even the Permanent Committee of the Bishops of Congo, who had met from 31 January to 6 February in Kinshasa, had decided to suspend judgement about attending the meeting. The bishops had asked questions to which there was no reply about the aims of the conference, its initiator and the financing of its operations.

The public, too, was asking questions about the political and juridical status of this meeting, seeing that large sums of money were needed for its preparation and organisation. There is talk of two million dollars being spent for the purchase of vehicles to transport the foreign delegations. But, more importantly, in view of the present state of the country, the organisation of such a Consultation appeared to some to be an obstacle to the implementation of the Lusaka peace process. That’s why the leaders of the religious denominations often repeated that the National Consultation was not an obstacle to inter-Congolese dialogue, and that it remained a necessity which should not be overlooked.

Meagre results

In the beginning, participants worked in separate groups to try to answer the four questions set by the organisers on the evil which eats away at Congolese society. These questions centred on the real causes of the war, the obstacles to national cohesion and the coming of peace, as well as the obstacles to inter-Congolese dialogue. Five commissions were entrusted with the themes: Causes of the war; dialogue among Congolese plus the Lusaka Agreements; the ethics of reconciliation; the drawing up of resolutions; problems related to politics and administration.

After a few days of exhausting work in commissions, the participants met to make a synthesis of the conclusions and recommendations. In particular, they recommended the protection and legitimisation of Kabila’s administration. Several delegates wanted the government to dissolve the Peoples Committees (CPP) set up by Kabila. They also wanted the revision of Decree/Laws 194 and 195, on the setting-up of political parties, and the immediate suppression of the emergency jurisdictions such as the State Security Court and the Military Court of Order. The National Consultation also recommended amendments to the Lusaka Agreements. Finally, among the salient recommendations, the formation of a government open to other political tendencies which should be directed by a competent and experienced Prime Minister.

All the recommendations drawn up by the meeting were presented to President Kabila who, in a speech the same evening, made it clear that he was free to set them aside or not. Furthermore, the sit-down protest of the CPP outside the Centenary Church for the duration of the sessions of the Consultation, and Minister Kakudji’s speech, shows the National Consultation’s recommendations were far from being taken on board by the government.

A moving reconciliation ceremony

Two significant events during the closing ceremony: On the one hand the liturgical ceremony, especially the meditations and the washing of hands symbolising a total renunciation of evil; on the other hand, the reading of the National Consultation’s Resolutions and Recommendations. The moment of reconciliation and the prayer for pardon evoked deep emotion in the room. In this context, the former governor of Katanga, Mr. Kyungu wa Kumwanza, currently Congo RDC‘s ambassador in Kenya, asked forgiveness for the 1992 ethnic cleansing in Katanga, where the Kasai people were victims. It may be noted, however, that this repentance was not publicly accepted as long as there was no promise of compensation.

When his turn came, Mr. Bemba Saolona, Minister for Industry and Commerce in Kabila’s government and father of the «rebel» Jean-Pierre Bemba who controls the north of the Equateur province, asked all Congolese to forgive all the evil things his son had done. He invited his son to amend his life by giving up the fight which holds back the future of the entire country. He requested the religious leaders to enlighten his son so that he can abandon his way of life.

Lessons to be learnt

Some said the National Consultation was a failure simply because all the documents could not be finalised before the closing ceremony. This risks labelling the sessions as incomplete. However, in organising this meeting, the religious leaders won the day by being able to realise something the 1992-1993 Sovereign National Conference had not been able to achieve, namely, reconciliation. The participants were committed to freedom of speech and seized the opportunity to denounce forcibly the different facets of the evil which eats away at Congolese society today.

After the closing ceremony, participants were invited by President Kabila to dine at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Centre. Unfortunately, the President’s improvised speech and Minister Kakudji’s message a week later at a political meeting organised to support the regime locally, cast doubts on the realisation of the results of the Consultation, which thus risk being a dead letter.

Still, as Mr Pierre Marini Bodho stressed in his closing address, the religious leaders simply wanted the Congolese people to be able to live better and prosperous lives in proportion to the overflowing economic potential of the country.