Text:
http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/98dec1/1dec-congo.html
Congo opposition wary of
Kabila's democracy promises
Laurent Kabila promises to lift the ban on opposition parties in January -- but mistrust runs so deep that there's been no celebrating.
BIENVENU MUNDALA in Kinshasa
PPOSITION leaders have reacted warily to a promise by the government of the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to lift a ban on
political parties in January, suggesting that the measure should be preceded by
inter-party talks so as to work out a national consensus.
''Before political parties resume their activities, President (Laurent) Kabila needs to have the courage to meet politicians to break the ice of mistrust and suspicion,'' said Christophe Lutundula, who was deputy speaker in a transitional parliament suspended by Kabila when he seized power last year.
The resumption has to be done ''in a spirit of national reconciliation and harmony,'' Lutundula told IPS. ''The decision to lift the suspension has to be sincere so that it does not become a stopgap measure for President Kabila, otherwise there is no chance political activity will really be resumed,'' he added.
The announcement came in an interview Kabila gave last week to Radio France Internationale (RFI). ''In two months time, we shall liberalise political activities and authorise political parties to function as normal,'' Kabila said.
Kabila suspended political parties for two years when, in May 1997, he overthrew the regime of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko (now late), who had ruled the country for more than three decades.
The Congolese president, who also
promised freedom of expression and
movement, told RFI the number of
political parties would not be limited, as
some opposition members have
requested.
Some politicians have suggested that
only four of the some 400 parties
registered in the then Zaire (now DRC)
before Mobutu's ouster be allowed to
function.
The four are: 'l'Union pour la
Dimocratie et le Progres Social
(UDPS- Union for Democracy and
Social Progress) led by Etienne
Tshisekedi; 'le Parti Lumumbiste Unifie'
(PALU - Unified Lumumbist Party); 'le
Parti Democrate et Social Chretien
(PDSC - Christian Democratic and
Social Party) and Kabila's 'Parti
Revolutionnaire du Peuple (PRP -
People's Revolutionary Party).
The PRP is part of the ruling 'Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo (AFDL - Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo), the only political grouping allowed to operate in the DRC.
According to Nono Lutula, special adviser to the president on security issues, a decree on the organisation and functioning of political parties will be promulgated in December. Similarly, Justice Minister Mwenze Kongolo said Friday that eight draft decrees dealing mainly with public demonstrations and access for political parties to the state media would be submitted soon to the head of state.
Generally, Kabila's announcement drew wary reactions from politicians, such as Eugene Diomi Ndongala, who heads 'Democratie Chretienne' (DC - Christian Democratic Party). ''We agree to a resumption of the activities of political parties,'' Ndongala said, ''but not to a sham resumption in which only the government defines the rules of the game.''
The Rassemblement pour une nouvelle Societe (RNS - Rally for a New Society), pointed out that the lifting of the suspension must not be seen as a gift, but as an obligation of those in power, who have to guarantee freedom of association in Congo.
''We are waiting to be involved in drawing up the law on political parties so that it's not unilateral, especially since Kabila, too, is the head of a party, '' said RNS spokesman Hubert Willemene.
The suspension was one of the first measures taken last year by Kabila's regime, which has dealt strongly with political leaders and parties who dared flout it.
One politician, Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma, was arrested and then released for health
reasons. He has since joined rebels fighting Kabila in the east of the DRC.
Another, Joseph Olenghankoy, was sentenced to 20 years in jail, while
Tshisekedi was confined for four months in his home village in East Kasai. And
in July 1997, security forces killed four protesters at a PALU demonstration.
The announcement that the suspension would be lifted came as a result of pressure from Congo's main creditors, including the European Union and the United States, which have conditioned their aid on the democratisation in the DRC.
Some observers feel political liberalisation is not enough, that new blood is needed. ''We want a renovated, responsible political class that has fresh ideas and is ready to invest in the national reconciliation process,'' said journalist Jean- Jacques Mbuyamba.
He argued that people needed politicians able to educate the masses, rally people around them and inspire Congolese to work. ''No one wants agitators, political chameleons ready to betray their parties' ideals for personal interest, '' he added.
Lutundula felt the resumption of political activity should enable politicians to ''make a qualitative step forward''. They should ''start off on the right foot and look at themselves in the mirror of the country's recent past'', he said.
Warning against a return to an ''anarchic, deleterious and chaotic pluralism'', he added: ''The Congolese people will not forgive us if we make the same mistakes as in the past.'' -- IPS/Misa, December 1, 1998.