5,000 limos for the Francophonie VIPs

François Hollande’s election to the French presidency cast some doubts about whether the Sommet de la Francophonie would be maintained in Kinshasa – and if so, would the Socialist President who has vowed to redefine France’s Africa policy would attend.

Much to the dismay of some Congolese opposition forces who lobbied against his presence in Kinshasa, Hollande decided to make the trip – indicating however that he'll also be meeting with opposition and civil society leaders.

Now that this diplomatic hurdle has been passed, the Congolese government has some serious logistical challenges to tackle. In addition to lodging, transport is one of the major ones. Gridlock, dust and pollution, and breakdowns that disrupt traffic are the lot of commuters from Masina, Kimbanseke and N'djili. VIP summit delegates will soon discover Kinshasa’s transport nightmare.

A transport commission has been set up by summit’s organizing committee. The commission will provide 5,000 Lexus and Jaguar limousines to shuttle around the delegates. This seems incongruous on two counts. One, these limos will be travelling on some of the worst roads in an African capital (except for some refurbished stretches along the 30 Juin, Triomphal and Lumumba) and two, most Kinois ride in crammed taxi vans that are more akin to cattle wagons than passenger vehicles. The 5,000 limos are part of the presidential fleet!

The Chinese company SINOHYDRO is working on Boulevard Lumumba from the N’djili airport to the Limete bypass but it seems unlikely that they will finish the work in time. I traveled that road last week: construction progress is as slow as the traffic.

Even if the work isn’t finished to welcome the 3,000 delegates, the government has techniques to keep traffic off the roads to facilitate VIP arrivals and departures. One way is to announce spot checks to ensure drivers have their insurance policies and vehicle registration in order. As most don’t, they will avoid the city on those days.

Pre-election violence in Kinshasa: a hint of what’s to come



Dead soldier, Kinshasa, March 2007 @Getty Images

Pre- and post-election violence is to be expected in Kinshasa because insufficient effort has been made at trying to restore people’s faith in government or in improving their well-being. The government’s main objective in the past five years has been regime consolidation and personal enrichment, abetted by Congo’s compliant international partners.

Factional violence shook Kinshasa last week just hours after Etienne Tshisekedi officially entered the race for the country’s highest office by registering with the CENI.

UDPS headquarters was vandalized and the studios of a radio and television station close to the opposition - Radio Lisanga - were set ablaze on 5 September. A PPRD office was also destroyed. The next day police broke up a UDPS demonstration, killing one and wounding at least two others. The following night, the Congo Embassy in Paris was attacked with Molotov cocktails by unidentified assailants. Pursuing opposition politics abroad is an indicator of political repression back home.

Governor of the Kinshasa ville-province, André Kimbuta (whose son Gaylord Kimbuta was murdered in Belgium earlier this year) temporarily banned political demonstrations. UDPS and PPRD activists declared they would respect the ban. Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo spoke out, appealing for calm. UDPS has been demonstration in front of the CENI offices demanding access to their computer files to ensure transparency in the registration and voting procresses.

These flare ups are harbingers of what will come following elections. Results will be contested by the runner up with a possible Côte d’Ivoire style stalemate. The type of violence that resulted in hundreds of deaths in March 2007 when overzealous troops loyal to Kabila clashed with Bemba militiamen in Kinshasa won’t surprise anyone. Capturing power is one thing, but transforming it into a social agenda is something else.

Kinshasa voter frustration



Jardin Zoologique de Kinshasa

 32 million Congolese registered to vote in the operation carried out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) that recently came to a close. This is up from 25 million during the previous round five years ago. The process was highly politicized and took place despite major technical and logistical obstacles.

The registration situation in Kinshasa, where the population voted massively for Jean-Pierre Bemba in 2005 - and where President Kabila remains unpopular - was analyzed by Guy De Boeck in the Revue Dialogue n° 35. Although the expected figure was 3.5 million, 3.3 million people registered in the capital.

Four categories of problems were identified.
(i) Technical and logistical obstacles included the long distance some people had to walk to reach a registration center (up to 15 km), disorder in queues, delays in processing due to computer breakdowns or the lack of election kits and the issuance of cards that are not conform to standards.

(ii) ‘social’ problems: because electoral agents were not paid, they took excessively long breaks  and aggravated the waiting period. They also insisted on people paying for their voter registration cards, which is against the free and fair logic of the process.

(iii) establishing the real identity of voters was a major problem. Police officers served as electoral agents and there was poor communication about voting procedures.  Candidates anxious to boost votes in their constituencies bussed people to their voting districts outside of the Kinshasa city limits.

(iv) a host of psychological factors were also reported. People are frustrated by the lack of social and democratic progress since voting five years ago so are discouraged by the electoral process. They believe Bemba won in 2005 but was robbed of his rights.  Changing the rules of the game – going from two elections rounds to one – is perceived as a harbinger of fraud and manipulation. There is clear lack of confidence in the CENI.

Kinois do not have high expectations and are largely disillusioned by the electoral process. The CENI probably did not make it particularly easy for registration in Kinshasa given Kabila’s general lack of popularity there. In the probable event of a Kabila victory nationwide, the key question is whether or not they will transform apathy into mobilization. This will be determined largely by the mots d’ordre given by opposition leaders.