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The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, abruptly canceled a meeting scheduled this week with United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and the President of the African Union, Moussa Faki. Kabila sent a message this weekend that he was "no longer available" for the meeting – just before senior diplomats travel to Kinshasa, Congo's capital.
The cancellation of Kabila at the last minute – and his refusal to meet others In recent weeks, international leaders do not intend to resign, in accordance with the Constitution Congolese, and to allow the holding of credible elections.
Congo that peace and stability in the country and the wider region were in danger, and announced a new round of peaceful demonstrations, nationwide by mid-August to "save" the " democracy in danger "of the country.
23, but Kabila has not yet publicly stated that he would resign. Meanwhile, ruling party leaders began campaigning for Kabila to remain in power, in violation of the two-term limit of the constitution. Members of the political opposition and activists said that there was a crisis of confidence in the electoral process, with the government's crackdown continuing unabated.
The Guterres-Faki joint visit would have been an opportunity to deliver a hard and coordinated message to Kabila. The minimum conditions that must be met for the next vote to be credible and the measures that the UN and the AU would impose if it did not do so.
Kabila's contempt only adds to the insult after years of abuse and defiance of international appeals to take concrete steps to organize a free and fair election. The international bodies and the governments concerned must go beyond declarations and exert real pressure to show that there are consequences for the repression and abuses that Kabila and his relatives have used to maintain power. This could be done through targeted sanctions by the UN Security Council, the AU, the European Union and the United States against Kabila himself and other people in the United States. more responsible for abuses
. If Kabila postpones or manipulates the elections, the danger will not be only for the Congo, but for the whole region.
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