KINSHASA - Congo's President Joseph Kabila
will not stand in the election scheduled for December, a
spokesman said, finally agreeing to obey a two-term limit but
picking a hard-core loyalist under European Union sanctions to
stand instead.
The announcement on Wednesday by spokesman Lambert Mende
that former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary would
represent Kabila's ruling coalition in the Dec. 23 vote came
just hours before the deadline to register candidates.
"We are all going to align behind (him)," Mende said.
Kabila was due to step down in 2016 at the end of his
constitutional mandate, but the election to replace him was
repeatedly delayed. That sparked protests in which the security
forces killed dozens of people, and stoked militia violence in
Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile east.
Kabila had come under strong pressure from regional allies
such as Angola as well as the United States and EU to stand
down.
The selection of Ramazani, 57, is, however, a defiant move.
He is under EU sanctions for alleged human rights abuses,
including deadly crackdowns by security forces on protesters.
Kabila's choice of a die-hard loyalist suggests that the
president, who came to power after his father's assassination in
2001, intends to remain closely involved in national politics.
A Ramazani victory could lead to a continuation of Kabila's
policies, including a tough line on the mining sector, where
foreign investors hope the government will walk back steep tax
hikes approved earlier this year.
Congo is Africa's top producer of copper and the world's
leading miner of cobalt, which is prized for its use in
batteries for electric cars and other electronics.
KABILA PULLS THE STRINGS?
Kabila will remain at the head of his People's Party for
Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and has installed loyalists
across the federal bureaucracy, including in the courts and in
the military.
But the announcement that he will not run again will ease
fears in the region and beyond that a Kabila candidacy would
drag the country back into the civil wars of the turn of the
century in which millions died, mostly from hunger and disease.
"What matters for the moment is that the constitution,
whether willingly or not, has been respected," said Senator
Jacques Ndjoli of the opposition MLC party of former vice
president and presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba.
"Despite the multiple attempts to circumvent the
constitution, President Kabila finally understood that the
supreme law applies to everyone."
The election should now herald Congo's first democratic
transition of power following decades marked by authoritarian
rule, coups and deadly conflict.
Ramazani, a former governor of the eastern province of
Maniema, served as interior minister from late 2016 until this
February, when he was named permanent secretary of the PPRD.
He is a combative defender of Kabila and oversaw repeated
crackdowns on protesters and pro-democracy groups as interior
minister, especially in the aftermath of Kabila's refusal to
quit power when his mandate expired in December 2016.
In May last year, the EU slapped a travel ban and asset
freeze on him for his involvement in "planning, directing or
committing acts that constitute serious human rights
violations".
Several opposition candidates, including Bemba and the
president of Congo's largest opposition party, Felix Tshisekedi,
have also registered to run.
They fear the goodwill Kabila could earn from not seeking a
new term could make it easier for his coalition to cheat and are
concerned about voter rolls they say are faulty and electronic
voting machines due to be used for the first time.
His supporters dismiss these concerns.
"Today, Kabila has shown that he is the father of democracy
in Congo," Patrick Nkanga, a PPRD official, told Reuters by
telephone.
A nationwide opinion poll last month showed opposition
candidates collecting a significant majority of the vote with
potential candidates from the ruling coalition trailing far
behind.
Ramazani did not receive enough votes to be included in the
poll's results.