DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC): Chaotic elections herald a new phase in the continuing war of plunder

On December 20, 100,000 candidates were vying for four elections: national legislative, provincial, municipal and presidential. Given the absence of a continuous road network, electoral material for the 44 million voters was flown in by the UN military contingent, MONUSCO (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The eastern territories of Masisi and Rutshuru were excluded from the electoral process because of the war raging there.

Everywhere, polling stations opened late, electoral machines malfunctioned, « displaced » populations from North Kivu were unable to reach polling stations, and polling stations in the Nyiragongo territory were relocated… By nightfall, 40 % of polling stations had failed to open, postponing voting until the following day. These elections are taking place against a backdrop of war in the east of the country and an unremitting political crisis since the 2018 elections. On the eve of the 2018 elections, an « agreement for peace and stability in the DRC » was negotiated by the presidents of Egypt and South Africa and the former president of Kenya. The agreement organized power-sharing between former president Kabila and current president (candidate to his own succession) Tshisekedi. Above all, it guaranteed « respect for the interests of the international community », which in reality, meant respect for the mining interests of US imperialism.

Today, the war of plunder takes on a new dimension. On the one hand, Tshisekedi is developing a xenophobic line against the Rwandan-speaking population of the DRC. On the other, just after the ceasefire between the governments of Rwanda and the DRC negotiated by the Biden administration’s Director of Intelligence, Avril Danica Haines, a new political-military coalition, the Alliance du Fleuve Congo, was formed in Kenya. Its aim: « to remove Tshisekedi ». Peace in the DRC is incompatible with imperialism. No matter whoever wins the presidential election, the war will enter a new phase. Only the mobilization of the working masses and their organizations to drive out the foreign troops, mercenaries and multinationals plundering the country’s wealth will open the way to peace and democracy. Mobilization that will impose the nationalization of these riches to satisfy the needs of the working people and youth. ■

With our correspondents from the Committee for an Independent and Democratic Workers’ and Peasants’ Party

Key facts

102 million people live in the DRC (a country four times the size of France). In 2022, 60 million Congolese will be living on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank. Its subsoil is rich in precious metals. In the space of thirty years, wars fueled by multinationals financing over a hundred armed groups have claimed ten million lives and driven millions of refugees from their homes.