Congo Braces for Unrest as President Refuses to Leave Office

[oberliner]

Source: WSJ

Congo braced for widespread unrest on Monday as President Joseph Kabila’s latest five-year term in office was set to expire with no discernible plan for him to leave power.

Thousands of security personnel were deployed across this vast mineral-rich nation after Mr. Kabila’s opponents pledged to mobilize more than a million people to protest his decision to stay beyond the midnight deadline Monday for him to step down after 15 years in power.

Authorities shut down social media services including Facebook and WhatsApp and jammed the signals of Radio France International and United Nations-supported Radio Okapi. A police spokesman said any gathering exceeding 10 people would be dispersed by force.

In the Congolese capital, hundreds of students at the University of Kinshasa defied the authorities and tried to leave campus to participate in street protests. Security forces and riot trucks blocked their exit, witnesses said.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/congo-braces-for-unrest-as-president-refuses-to-offer-transition-plan-1482142900

[Girard442]

1. Good thing the US is a stable democracy.

Order of:



Extra heavy.

[catsudon]

6. dictators

the continent is full of dictators for a long time. there is this award called ibrahim award for 'former' head of the state, the Ibrahim Prize, an annual award given to former African heads of states who have advanced democracy and peacefully transitioned power gifts $5,000,000 plus an additional $200,000 a year after that. It has only been awarded three times since 2008

[Javaman]

2. why do I have this feeling that this same thing will happen here in 2020 or gasp 2024? nt

[oberliner]

3. The Congo situation could get very ugly

Sadly, more violence and bloodshed there seem inevitable under the circumstances.

[Dave Starsky]

5. Because Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is the guy that violently flips the table over the second time his little car lands on your Boardwalk.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Congo's leaders under growing pressure as death toll mounts

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo is under increasing international pressure as the death toll from confrontations between protesters and security forces continues to mount.

Human rights groups and the United Nations say they have evidence that at least 26 people were killed on Tuesday during scattered clashes in Kinshasa, the capital of the vast resource-rich central African state, and in the south-east city of Lubumbashi.

Government spokesmen said the figure was far lower and included several policemen
...
The protests started with a chorus of whistles, klaxons and banging of cooking pots at midnight on Monday when Kabila’s term in office officially ended, and intensified over the next 12 hours as protesters burned tyres and set up makeshift barricades that were cleared by security forces using live ammunition and tear gas.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/congo-leaders-growing-pressure-death-toll-mounts-president-kabila