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Editor's note: Every Friday, Robbie Corey-Boulet, editor-in-chief of WPR, animates the main news and badyzes of the African continent.
Not for the first time, those who hoped for a public presence of Congolese President Joseph Kabila The light on his political future was disappointed this week.
On Thursday, Kabila delivered his speech on the state of the nation to lawmakers, pledging to abide by the current schedule of holding late elections in December. But he did not say he would be a presidential candidate, opting instead to keep the country in abeyance. "This is what the Congolese people expect from someone who thinks they are an eternal monarch," said Claudel Andre Lubaya, an opposition MP.
Kabila came to power after his father, President Laurent Kabila, was badbadinated in 2001. He was almost two years behind his mandate, to the dismay of the international community and its many national critics.
The constitution prevents him from seeking a third term, and on Thursday he promised to "unambiguously respect the constitution" as he did in the past. But the political opposition and Congolese civil society activists believe that the delay in holding the elections, which the Congolese authorities attributed to financial and logistical constraints, is part of a plan to artificially prolong the Kabila's mandate. For this reason, they will be satisfied with nothing less than a direct statement from Kabila himself that he will not be on the ballot.
Other developments this week have contributed to the wave of conflicting signals that have made Kabila's next move so difficult to predict. On Wednesday, according to Bloomberg, lawmakers finalized legislation "providing financial benefits to former heads of state, which will complement a high level of legal immunity already granted by the constitution." The law suggests that Kabila could try to get a soft landing when he left his post
Yet over the weekend, Kabila made two controversial military appointments that caused fears that he would not be able to make a landing. he is preparing for a violent repression of dissent. General Gabriel Amisi became Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence and Operations, while General John Numbi became the new Inspector General of the Army. Both men were subject to sanctions by the United States and the European Union for their alleged involvement in human rights violations. Adding to the feverish speculation about what comes next to the Congo is the fact that former Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, who served until recently a sentence for war crimes and crimes against terrorism. Humanity, has been nominated presidential candidate for the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, his political party. In a surprise decision, the International Criminal Court in The Hague overturned Bemba's conviction in May, paving the way for his unlikely political return
As WPR reported in April, the Congolese political landscape was already very disturbed before Bemba's return. But the most important question has always been Kabila's. For the moment, the country has no choice but to continue to guess.
Stay up to date with Africa news with our daily news wire organized in Africa.
Here is an overview of news from elsewhere on the continent.
Central Africa
Cameroon : Reuters reports that four soldiers were arrested because they were suspected of having executed two women and two children in northern Cameroon. The video of the killings was widely broadcast on social media last week, although the Cameroonian government initially said the army was involved in false news. Women and children have reportedly been accused of being affiliated with Boko Haram. in the north for several years. Human Rights Watch released a report Thursday documenting abuses by government forces and separatist militants in English-speaking areas of the country's west. WPR has written several times about the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon; More recently, we examined how it spread over the border in Nigeria.
West Africa
Senegal : A court on Thursday ruled 15 people guilty of attempting to establish a terrorist network, condemning them between five and 20 years in prison. Fourteen other suspects were acquitted. Prosecutors said those tried had traveled to Nigeria, where they "spent time" with Boko Haram, according to Reuters. In a briefing for WPR last year, Ryan Cummings described the various factors that have spared Senegal's high-level jihadist violence that has afflicted many of its neighbors.
Nigeria : More than 20 Nigerian soldiers were reported missing after clashing with Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria over the weekend. AFP and Reuters both confirmed the details of the incident with security sources, although the Nigerian army later denied that soldiers had been reported missing. Separately, the police announced the arrest of 22 members of Boko Haram suspected of playing a role in the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in the city of Chibok in 2014. In a play for WPR this week Alex Thurston discussed the latest political impetus ahead of the general elections scheduled for 2019 and how lingering insecurity would weigh on the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari.
North Africa
Algeria : Algiers was again attacked by the United Nations for expelling migrants and forcing them to cross the desert for reach cities in Niger. Nearly 400 people arrived in Assamaka, Niger, last week, said an official of the International Organization for Migration. The Associated Press reported in June that over a 14-month period, more than 13,000 migrants had been expelled in the same way. Also this week, France sent Djamel Beghal, who is accused of being a "spiritual guardian" of the militants involved in large-scale attacks in Paris in 2015, back in Algeria, where officials have said that He would be judged.
Tunisia : On Friday, the authorities planned to accept a boat carrying 40 migrants already rejected by Italy, Malta and France. According to the Associated Press, the boat was waiting to dock in a Tunisian port for more than two days. The Tunisian authorities have been reluctant to encourage other boats to go to the coast of the country, given the growing number of boat cases abandoned by European countries. Also this week, President Beji Caid Essebsi said that Prime Minister Youssef Chahed may need to resign over Tunisia's economic woes. Chahed is publicly disputed with the president's son, Hafedh Caid Essebsi, who is the leader of Nidaa Tounes' political party.
Southern Africa
South Africa : Thousands of people watched former US President Barack Obama deliver a lecture at a Johannesburg stadium Tuesday. the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. The lecture was widely interpreted as a criticism of Donald Trump, although Obama did not mention Trump by his name, referring instead to the "strong man's politics". Read the full remarks here. On Thursday, the Washington-based Property of the People group published thousands of pages of US intelligence documents showing that US intelligence agents continued to monitor Mandela and considered him a threat after he was released from prison in 1990. 19659003] Zimbabwe : A poll released Friday by Afrobarometer suggested that the next race for the presidency might be closer than many badumed. Among potential voters, 40% said they would support President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over after Robert Mugabe was removed from office last November. Nelson Chamisa, the main candidate of the opposition, was not far behind, with 37%. Some 20% either refused to answer or did not know who they would support or did not intend to vote on. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times sent out dispatches from Zimbabwe this week, showing how Mugabe's legacy was looming during the campaign period, raising questions about the credibility of the vote. In a comprehensive report for WPR in May, Simon Allison described the many ways in which Mugabe's departure had reshaped local politics.
East Africa
South Sudan : President Salva Kiir reiterated the hope that an agreement of Peace would soon be concluded, saying Thursday that he was ready to accept a power-sharing agreement. "The people of South Sudan are seeking peace, and if this arrangement can bring peace to the people of South Sudan, I am ready to take it," said Kiir. It was not clear immediately what role, if any, the rebel leader Riek Machar, the former vice president of Kiir, would play in a new government. Kiir's statement comes less than a week after the US Security Council finally imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan. At a briefing for WPR in March, Andrew Green discussed the various obstacles that could stand in the way of the latest progress towards peace.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and Lieutenant-General James Ajongo Mawut, Chief of Staff of the Army,
attend a ceremony, Juba, South Sudan, May 18 2017 (AP photo by Bullen Chol). Ethiopia / Eritrea : A pro-government media in Eritrea reported that the army had withdrawn its troops from the border with Ethiopia. The border dispute between the two countries led to a war that killed tens of thousands of people between 1998 and 2000, but Abiy Ahmed, the new Ethiopian prime minister, recently took steps towards peace in the context of its vast reform program. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki visited Ethiopia this weekend and reopened Monday the Eritrean Embbady in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia has also appointed a new ambbadador to Eritrea this week – its first in two decades. On Wednesday, Ethiopian Airlines operated the first commercial flight from Addis Ababa to Asmara since the war.
The Chief of the Bessie: A Life of Letters
: Written for Popula, Nanjala Nyabola inspires the correspondence of Bessie Head, the South African writer who has spent more than two decades in exile Botswana, to illustrate Head's struggle to make a living and a career despite his isolation. In addition to the exchanges with Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, there are letters to agents and publishers in which Head "is a formidable champion of his own work, concerned with commercial success but reluctant to achieve it". Given Head's circumstances, the letters offer the most direct and enlightening window in his mind. "She had other amusements than writing, there were no jazz bars, no dancing parties, no lectures, no libraries or lounges to kill time, "writes Nyabola." So, letter writing was Head's main connection, a lifesaver and a way to survive the lack of what other artists could take for granted. "
China Fights France in Former African Colonies]: China's Ivory Coast loans increased by 1,400% between 2010 and 2015, Olivier Monnier and Pauline Bax write in this piece for Bloomberg, a sign of Beijing's progress towards economies long regarded as fiefdoms of the French.Although the clash of cultures can create "hard times" in the workplace, the African countries from the west seem to be satisfied with the results, partly because they have fa it efforts to learn from other African countries, such as Angola. previously treated with the Chinese. The resources made available by China seem to justify the risks. As one badyst puts it, "the thinking of African leaders changed dramatically after they saw that they could access a range of services, including financial services, that were not available. not available before and left them the freedom to set their own terms. "[19659003] Coming up on WPR: Reports on Ethiopia and the United States relations and the offer of Cameroonian President Paul Biya for a new mandate.
Robbie Corey-Boulet is editor-in-chief of World Politics Review.
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