Kabila’s Congo Electoral Vote Ends Nothing

The belief that ballots can stop bullets in the developing world is about to take a big blow. The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been known as “Zaire,” “Republic of Congo,” and “Belgian Congo,” has suffered civil war since 1998. Some 4 million have died, at least eight times the Iraqi death toll. The recent election for president was to have been astep in healing the should-be-wealthy nation. Instead, a return to the violence lies ahead.

On Wednesday, the electoral authorities announced the results of the second round of voting, and incumbent president Joseph Kabila got 58% of the vote. Challenger and one of the country’s current vice presidents Jean-Pierre Bemba and his supporters immediately alleged “systematic cheating,” and rejected the results calling the process a “hold-up.” Even before that, Mr. Bemba’s troops took over UN peacekeepers’ positions at the week-end. The 17,500 blue helmets sat in their armored personnel carriers as per their rules of engagement and waited out the shooting. The EU troops in the country, sent to patrol the capital city of Kinshasa, are on high alert.

Mr. Kabila, whose father Laurent-Désiré Kabila overthrew major evil dictator Mobutu Sese Seko with Rwandan help, is seen as a foreign tool by many in the capital and in the western part of the country. Mr. Bemba is a multi-millionaire (in dollars, pounds or euro) whose father was close to Mobutu, and whose sister is married to one of Mobutu’s sons. In other words, this is a tale of two family groupings who are trying to take over the country.

In the recent campaign, things got so ugly that the recent New Jersey Senate race looked dignified by comparison. Mr. Bemba’s “One Hundred Percent Congolese” slogan was a slap at Mr. Kabila’s Rwandan mother. Meanwhile, the Kabila camp complained that Mr. Bemba had eaten pygmies during 2002 while leading guerrillas. Hence, the delightful statement, “These are lies which have come from the highest levels of government...The pygmies are alive and well.” Messrs. Menendez and Kean may have accused one another of a great many abominations, but pygmy eating obviously never occurred to them.

More seriously, the nation seems to be well divided between the two camps and the election appears not to have reconciled the two. If Mr. Bemba decides to continue the struggle from the bush, as Jonas Savimbi did in Angola after an election came out against him, a great many more Congolese are going to die. And he has nothing to lose by doing so.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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