The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
– Political void –
Analysts, though, say that the weakness of the state — compounded by dangerous uncertainty over the country’s political future — lies at the heart of many problems in the DRC.
Presidential elections have twice been postponed since head of state Joseph Kabila was scheduled to leave office at the end of 2016.
The most recent date for holding them is December 23, but tension over whether the poll will take place — and whether Kabila will step down, as required under the constitution — has fuelled protests that the authorities have bloodily repressed.
In the face of this turmoil is MONUSCO — the French acronym for UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo — which has some 18,300 troops, police and civilians in DR Congo, making it the world’s biggest peacekeeping mission.
Its mandate, which dates back to 2010, is expected to be renewed by the UN Security Council on Tuesday, four days before it is due to expire.
Two UN experts, a Swedish woman and an American man, were brutally murdered in March last year while on a mission to probe reports of mass graves in Kasai.
Congolese authorities initially blamed Kamwina Nsapu “terrorists” before arresting two suspects, a military chief and a policeman, last Saturday.
Kasai is one of the main factors in a bid to put together a $1.7-billion (1.37-billion-euro) aid package for the DRC. At least 13.1 million Congolese are in need of humanitarian help, including 7.7 million who are severely food insecure, the UN Security Council said Thursday in a unanimous statement.
The following day, in a move that stunned the humanitarian community, the government said aid workers had exaggerated the problems and it would shun a meeting on April 13 to discuss the package.
