On Wednesday, February 15, in the Q and A part of his press briefing,
US kinshasa Ambassador James F. Entwistle stated (in French): "The
position of the United States is clear: We recognize Joseph Kabila as
the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo for the next five
years. We hope that the irregularities noted on 28 November 2011 will
be avoided in the upcoming provincial, local, and other elections" (my
translation).
In the presentation half of his press conference, Amb Entwistle said
the US would encourage Congolese politicos to set an "inclusive
government."
He also urged all the parties whose members were elected MPs "to
participate" in the democratic debate in Parliament. (A not-so-veiled
allusion to the boycott of the incoming National Assembly called by
UDPS leader, Etienne Tshisekedi--see section 3 below.)
2) Farcical repetition of history
A group labeling itself Council of the Apostolate of Catholic Laity
(CALCC in its French acronym) planned a demo on Thursday, February 16.
As it happens, on February 16, 1992, a tragedy visited a Christian
anti-Mobutu demo in Kinshasa--with over three dozens demonstrators
killed, wounded and maimed when the security forces fired into the
crowd with live bullets.
The Marxian farce of the repetition of history occurred on Thursday.
Already at midday on Wednesday, sitting at his office desk at city
hall, Kinshasa Gov André Kimbuta Yango, wearing thick sunglasses (!),
appeared on national TV to warn that the demo was illegal on two
grounds: a) CALCC is an unregistered organization; and b) CALCC didn't
provide an itinerary of its demo so as to allow the police to provide
protection, supervision and containment. (By the way, Radio-Trottoir
explains the gubernatorial permanency of sunglasses by claiming that
the man is a pothead with permanent bloodshot eyes!)
Following the governor's injunction, MLC secretary general Thomas
Luhaka, who has just lost his bid to be re-elected MP, appeared on TV
to issue a call to his party members to join the demo.
On Thursday, not (?) coincidentally, as freshmen and re-elected MPs
were preparing to go to the "Palais du Peuple" to attend the
extraordinary session of the reassembly of Parliament (see section 3
below), DRC acting top cop Gen Charles Bisengimana, based on police
intelligence, had anti-riot units deployed at Kinshasa main Catholic
parishes--including at St. Joseph Parish in Matonge where the five
dozen or so demonstrators who had gathered in the premises were
quickly dispersed with flash grenades, tear gas, and plain old
billies. Two priests and one nun were arrested in the melees that
occurred at various Kinshasa parishes.
In retaliation, the Archdiocese of Kinshasa, prompted by an angry
phone call from The Vatican placed by Laurent Cardinal Monsengwo,
canceled the funeral mass that had to be celebrated in memory of MP
Augustin Katumba Mwanke at Notre-Dame-du-Congo cathedral in Lingwala
Commune. An alternative venue was found by government officials at
Kinshasa Orthodox cathedral.
While this farce could be read as a widening rift between the
government and the country's Catholic Church, several Catholic
prelates from the interior dissociated their dioceses from the
pro-opposition positions of CALCC.
3) Reassembly of Parliament
At midday on the same day, after the fog of tear gas had cleared from
Kinshasa Catholic parishes, an extraordinary session for the
reassembly of Parliament was convened at the Palais du Peuple.
The new National Assembly had to set up a temporary bureau, which has
to manage the Parliament for a month before the permanent bureau is
elected.
Out of the 500 elected or re-elected MPs, 350 were in attendance. All
but one elected UDPS MPs had boycotted the session.
According to the constitution, the managing bureau has to be headed by
the most senior elected MP in the capacity of acting Speaker, flanked
by two secretaries who have to be the most junior MPs.
It so happens that the most senior elected MP is UDPS Kombo Nkisi
(Bas-Congo), 76 (born June 26, 1936). And the two most junior members
were both born in 1982, respectively on July 10 and October 10 of that
year: PALU Patrick Muyaya (Kinshasa) and Mutula Dialo Coco. Muyaya
happens to be the son-in-law of PM Adolphe Muzito, who is also a PALU
stalwart.
In his speech, MP Nkisi struck a somewhat discordant note vis-a-vis
the UDPS leadership by stating:
"Thoughtlessness, complacency and compromise of principles must be
banned for the benefit of rigor, morals, respect for the law, for the
common good and the love for the Congolese people."
(Well, who's gonna cast the first stone at MP Nkisi? Just consider the
perks that will go his (and his two secretaries') way for a month: a
motorcade with 3 jeeps with 12 cops each; a suite at the Grand Hotel;
free gourmet food for the entire family from the Grand Hotel's
cordon-bleu chef; 3 SUVs; and, last but not least, massive running
costs for the bureau.)
The ordinary session planned for Friday was postponed for next Monday.
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