By Innocent Onoh
The UN Security Council has warned that the Democratic Republic of Congo must hold its general elections in December 2018 and ensure there that there would be no more delays. In a unanimous statement, the Security Council gave its response to the decision of the Election Commission in Kinshasa to hold presidential, legislative, regional and local elections on December 23, 2018.
The statement stressed, “Now that 23 December 2018 has been set as the date for the elections, the members of the Security Council emphasized the critical importance of ensuring that the elections will not be shifted again”.
The Council has been pressing Congolese authorities to announce a timetable for the elections, which could pave the way for the first peaceful transition of power in the vast resource-rich country. Elections were scheduled to be held by the end of 2017, under a political deal with the opposition aimed at avoiding bloodshed after President Joseph Kabila refused to step down when his second mandate ended last December.
Council members called on Congolese authorities to “take all the necessary measures without delay to ensure that this new calendar is scrupulously adhered to”. They also urged all political sides to refrain from violence and threatened “to act accordingly” against those who impede the elections, a veiled reference to possible sanctions.
The statement declared that the elections must be organized “with the requisite conditions of transparency, credibility and inclusivity, and lead to a peaceful transfer of power”. US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, traveled to the DR Congo last October to press for a timetable for elections and the commission released the date shortly afterwards.
President Joseph Kabila, who has been in office since 2001 when he took over from his assassinated father, Laurent Kabila, refused to step down at the end of his second and final term in office in December 2016. Mr. Kabila is certainly facing unpopularity at home and pressure abroad, but his position does not seem to be in immediate threat.
