| Étienne Tshisekedi | |
|---|---|
| Tshisekedi in 2000 | |
| 18th Prime Minister of Zaire | |
| In office 2 April 1997 – 9 April 1997 |
|
| 15th Prime Minister of Zaire | |
| In office 15 August 1992 – 18 March 1993 |
|
| 12th Prime Minister of Zaire | |
| In office 29 September 1991 – 1 November 1991 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 14, 1932 Luluabourg, Belgian Congo |
| Political party | Union for Democracy and Social Progress |
| Alma mater | Lovanium University |
Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (born 14 December 1932[1]) is a DRC politician who leads the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), a political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A long-time opposition leader, he served as Prime Minister of the country (then called Zaire) on three brief occasions: in 1991, 1992–1993, and 1997.
Tshisekedi was born in Luluabourg (now Kananga), Kasai-Occidental in 1932. While being active in Mobutu's college of commissioners he obtained a doctorate diploma in 1961 at the Lovanium University School of Law in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) and was the first Congolese to ever get a doctorate diploma in law. He served in Mobutu's government in various positions throughout the late 1960s and 1970s.
Tshisekedi and his party, Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) boycotted the 2006 elections organized in Congo claiming that the elections were fraudulent and were already systematically rigged in advance.[2]
He was a candidate for President of Congo in the 2011 elections that many national and international observers, notably the Carter Center, say were marred with serious irregularities and lacked credibility and transparency.[3] He rejected the results announced by the CENI, the body responsible for the organization of elections, saying that they didn't reflect the will of the people and declared himself the "elected president" of Congo. Tshisekedi held a private inauguration ceremony at his home in Limete district after Congo's national police and president Kabila's elite presidential guards prevented him from holding it at Martyrs Stadium and dispersed journalists and thousands of people that had gathered outside the stadium with tear gas.[4]
Tshisekedi's party headquarters was burglarized on Friday after his inauguration and emptied of all its contents by men in civilian clothes but with white police pick-ups. The party is to file a complaint on Tuesday December 27.[5]
President Tshisekedi is supposedly believed to be practically under residential surveillance because just the simple act of entering his neighborhood in the Limete district, you must be systematically searched, even if you're driving. Police men and Kabila's presidential guards are stationed at every corner that gives entrance to Tshisekedi's residence.[6]
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In 1932, Étienne Tshisekedi, son of Alexis Mulumba and his wife Agnès Kabena, was born in Luluabourg, Belgian Congo (now called Kananga, Democratic Republic of the Congo).[1][7] Ethnically, he is a member of the Luba people.[8] Tshisekedi attended primary school at Kabaluanda (West Kasai) and obtained a doctorate diploma in 1961.[9]
In 1980 Tshisekedi was removed from Mobutu's government and thrown in prison for criticism of Mobutu's repressive regime. Ever since he has been thrown in and out of prison numerous times by both Mobutu's government and Laurent Kabila's. In 1989 still under Mobutu's reign, several cases of his detention were recognized to be unlawful by UN Human Rights Committee.[10]
On February 15, 1982, he co-founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which he continues to lead. The party remains popular in Congo's capital Kinshasa, the two kasai and Bas-congo province as well as other preovinces,[11] with its main goal being a non-violent change to democratic rule.
According to Kapinga (VP of the MPR), Mobutu kept a number of Congolese tribes happy through the "sharing of money" with the tribes' power brokers. Under Mobutu's regime, Aponet Potia (Secretary General of the MPR) tried delivering money to Tshisekedi in the middle of the night to feed his belly, but Tshisekedi repulsed it. Mobutu tried and failed on several occasions to seduce Tshisekedi to take the money
With the country in economic turmoil in the early 1990s, in part due to Mobutu's loss of Western support after the Cold War, Mobutu promised a transition to multiparty democracy. During that time, Tshisekedi was appointed as Prime Minister on three separate occasions. The first lasted only one month (September 29, 1991 – November 1, 1991), the second only seven months (August 15, 1992 – March 18, 1993). Both times, Tshisekedi was prevented from functioning properly by Mobutu. The third term, while Laurent Kabila's rebel forces were marching on Kinshasa, lasted only a week (April 2, 1997 – April 9, 1997) and was again ended by Mobutu's lack of cooperation. A month later Laurent Kabila overthrew Mobutu (see First Congo War).
In the run-up to the 2006 national elections, Tshisekedi decided to boycott the electoral process and the constitutional referendum because he believed they were rigged in advance.[12]
Joseph Kabila won the presidential election. Tshisekedi considered the elections of 2006 to be a "masquerade", and has said that Joseph Kabila’s election was decided in advance by influential people outside Congo. Kabila defeated Jean-Pierre Bemba, with Tshisekedi on the sidelines. So, Kabila remained in office, having initially taken office in 2001, ten days after the assassination of his father, President Laurent-Désiré Kabila (who had overthrown Mobutu in 1997).
At a UPDS congress in April 2009, delegates unanimously affirmed that the party would participate in the 2011 election and that Tshisekedi would be its presidential candidate.[13]
In August 2011, Tshisekedi announced that he seeks to negotiate with other opposition parties to form a joint effort against incumbent Joseph Kabila.[14] This is Tshisekedi’s first bid for the presidency since forming the country’s first opposition party in 1982.[14]
Candidates have been campaigning relatively freely, and Tshisekedi has held large rallies. But the outcome of the election is unpredictable, and may lead to unrest according to civil society activist Donat Mbaya: "Tshisekedi said in an interview in Belgium that, whatever happens, Kabila won't win the election, and Kabila has said that whatever happens, he will win the election. In other words, neither candidate is prepared to admit defeat."[15]
Tshisekedi points not only to lack of democracy, but also lack of water and electricity, as reasons to elect him. He says that a vote for him would be a vote for a 30-year fight to uphold the rule of law and good governance in Congo. Tshisekedi is popular in the country and is supported by more 80 political parties.
Kamerhe a former ally of president Kabila and the director of Kabila's 2006 presidential campaign rejected the results announced by the CENI and admitted that Tshisekedi was the one who legitimately won the election.[16] Several other opposition candidates said to recognize only Tshisekedi's victory and called for the election to be annulled.[17]
On Friday December 9, the CENI made the 2011 election results public. Joseph Kabila won the elections for a second presidential term with 48,95 % (8.880.994 votes) securing most of his votes in provinces Katanga, Eastern Province, North and South Kivu, Maniema and Bandundu. Etienne Tshisekedi secured most of his votes in provinces East and West Kasai (home of his tribe) and Kinshasa stranding at 32,33 % (5.864.775 votes). Vital Kamerhe stranded at 7,74 % and Léon Kengo wa Dondo at 4,45 %. The result was put into question by the Carter Center which said that the results lacked credibility, the European Union observers mission which noted lack of transparency, as well as the archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya who had sent 3000 electoral observers in the voting offices. He claimed that the results announced by the CENI reflected neither the will of the people nor justice. [18]. Carter Center observers reported that the quality and integrity of the vote tabulation process has varied across the country, ranging from the proper application of procedures to serious irregularities, including the loss of nearly 2,000 polling station results in Kinshasa a stronghold of Tshisekedi. Based on the detailed results released by CENI, it is also evident that multiple locations, notably several Katanga province constituencies, reported impossibly high rates of 99 to 100 percent voter turnout with all, or nearly all, votes going to incumbent President Joseph Kabila. These and other observations point to mismanagement of the results process and compromise the integrity of the presidential election.[19] MONUSCO, the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, also voiced concern about the results.
While Kabila admitted that some mistakes had been made in the 2011 elections process, he rejected concerns about the outcome. The result was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A day after holding a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Senators Coons (D-Del.) and Isakson (R-Ga.) of the US senate expressed deep concern about the ruling of the Congolese Supreme Court, which declared President Kabila the winner of the elections without a transparent review of the election results.[20] They made the following statement:
We are deeply troubled by today’s ruling by the Congolese Supreme Court, which confirmed the results of the Congolese election commission despite widespread reports of irregularities. This was clearly not a well-run election, as reported by observers from the European Union, Carter Center, and Congolese Catholic Church. Congolese authorities must engage in a thorough and transparent review of the results that will shed light on whether irregularities were caused by a lack of organization or fraud, and the United States stands ready to provide technical assistance for such a review. We are increasingly concerned that the election irregularities are a setback for already weak systems of governance in Congo, and may further destabilize the DRC and lead to an escalation of violence. All sides should engage in dialogue about next steps and consider establishing a formal mediation process with the support of the international community. We call on President Kabila to direct his security forces to protect the Congolese people, and work with Mr. Tshisekedi to resolve their disagreements in a way that will restore credibility to the process. The U.S. stands with the Congolese people in their attempt to advance democracy and hope it can be achieved peacefully.
Then on December 20, Hillary Clinton, secretary of state of the United States expressed serious disappointments on the Congolese supreme court decision of confirming the results by making the following press statement:[22]
The United States is deeply disappointed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the electoral commission’s provisional results without fully evaluating widespread reports of irregularities. We believe that the management and technical execution of these elections were seriously flawed, lacked transparency and did not measure up to the democratic gains we have seen in recent African elections. However, it is still not clear whether the irregularities were sufficient to change the outcome of the election. We believe that a review of the electoral process by the Congolese authorities and outside experts may shed additional light on the cause of the irregularities, identify ways to provide more credible results, and offer guidance for the ongoing election results and for future elections. We strongly urge all Congolese political leaders and their supporters to act responsibly, renounce violence, and resolve any disagreements through peaceful, constructive dialogue. We have called on Congolese authorities to investigate and prevent election related human rights violations and we urge security forces to show restraint in maintaining order. The United States continues to offer our assistance and we stand with the Congolese people in their quest for greater peace and democracy at home and throughout the region.
Given the substantial amount of irregularities, Tshisekedi, being confident he won the election, broadcasted the following statement by radio:[24]
I considder (the results of CENI) like a real provocation to our people and completely reject them. I thus considder myself from this day on the elected president of the Democratic Republic of Congo [...] I thank my supporters for their confidence.
On December 19, Tshisekedi urged the armed forces to disobey Kabila and obey him and added he would offer a “great prize” to anyone who captured President Joseph Kabila by stating the following:[25]
I ask you, all of you, to search for this mister (Kabila) everywhere on the national territory and to bring him before me alive. The one who can bring Kabila to me here in ligoté will be compensated very well.
On Tuesday December 20, Joseph Kabila took the official oath before Congo's supreme court and was inaugurated President of Congo for a second term. The weekend before Kabila's oath's day, Tshisekedi had announced that he will be taking his oath at the Stade de Martyrs on Friday December 23. On Thursday December 24, Mr Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party sent out what appeared to be official invitations on presidential letterheads, urging journalists and diplomats to attend the swearing-in ceremony at the Martyrs Stadium in the capital, Kinshasa, on Friday morning. But journalists in Kinshasa said they were refused entry to the stadium and all the roads around Mr Tshisekedi's residence were cordoned off. According to the AFP news agency, police used tear gas to disperse opposition supporters gathered around the house, where Mr Tshisekedi later held his swearing-in ceremony. Troops from the police, military and Mr Kabila's elite Republican Guard were all deployed around stadium in Kinshasa, which is an opposition stronghold. Tanks, water cannon and soldiers armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were also seen. The police fired stun grenades and made some arrests as people walked towards the stadium and the Republican Guard confiscated some journalists' recording equipments.[26] Tshisekedi calling kabila's swearing-in a non-event, eventually held his own "swearing in" ceremony at his home in Limete district. Tshisekedi took the oath on a bible after his chief of staff Albert Moleka read a statement claiming that "today puts an indelible mark on the history of our country which has passed from dictatorship via the oligarchy of Kabila and his followers to real democracy."[27]
On Friday after Tshisekedi's inauguration, while the district of Limete where Tshisekedi reside was checkered, unidentified men had raided the headquarters of the UDPS. They had everything away. Etienne Tshisekedi's party is to file a complaint on Tuesday December 27 in Kinshasa. Friday, December 23, Limete was locked. You couldn't get in, but you could get out. That Friday, witnesses affirm to have seen white pick-ups, similar to police vehicles, parked in the middle of the houses of the Tenth Street of Limete. Their occupants, men in civilian clothes, then entered into the headquarters of the UDPS, and came out with documents, furnitures and appliances. A member of Tshisekedi's party explained that the villa had been emptied of all its contents with violence.[28]
| Preceded by Mulumba Lukoji Jean Nguza Karl-i-Bond Kengo Wa Dondo |
Prime Minister of Zaïre September 29, 1991 - November 1, 1991 August 15, 1992 - March 18, 1993 April 2, 1997 - April 9, 1997 |
Succeeded by Bernardin Mungul Diaka Faustin Birindwa Likulia Bolongo |
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