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Opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi on Thursday called for national reconciliation as he became president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, succeeding Joseph Kabila in Congo's first transfer of power by an election after 59 years of power. independence.
"We want to build a strong Congo, turned towards its development in peace and security," he said to the applause of thousands of supporters on the lawn of the presidential palace. "A Congo for all, in which everyone has his place."
The pageantry of the ceremony was briefly interrupted when Tshisekedi was taken ill during his maiden speech and had to sit down. But he returned to the podium a few moments after a brief pause, saying he was exhausted by the elections and the emotion of the moment.
His spokesman then told Reuters that his bullet-proof vest was too tight.
Tshisekedi's victory in the December 30 election was tainted by accusations that he had reached an agreement with the outgoing president behind the scenes to deny victory to another opposition candidate. The Kabila and Tshisekedi camps reject these allegations.
Tshisekedi, dressed in a blue suit and dark glbades, was sworn in front of his supporters, government officials and foreign ambbadadors.
However, as a sign of lingering doubts about the credibility of the vote, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya was the only foreign head of state present.
Yet the image of one leader transferring the presidency to another while Kabila was closing the presidential belt around his successor was striking in a country where previous power transfers were the result of coups d'état, badbadinations or badbadination. rebellions.
In his speech, Tshisekedi called for a "reconciled Congo" following a disputed election that narrowly defeated another opposition leader, Martin Fayulu, and Kabila's successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.
Contested outcome?
Fayulu said he had won the election by a landslide, a claim backed by figures from the Catholic Church of Congo, which deployed 40,000 observers to the polls.
He told Reuters Thursday that he would never work with Tshisekedi. "Felix must start by telling the truth," Fayulu said. "It's not the elected president. He is the president appointed by Kabila. "
Many African and Western countries, concerned that a dispute will reignite unrest in this unstable Central African country, acknowledged Tshisekedi after the highest court in the Congo rejected Fayulu's fraud complaints.
Etienne, the late father of Tshisekedi, was one of Kabila's fiercest political rivals, who lost him in the 2011 presidential election. Supporters of his party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), were among dozens of people killed by security forces during demonstrations against Kabila's refusal to withdraw in time.
At the ceremony on Thursday, UDPS supporters dressed in white were cheered by soldiers as they walked along the palace's lawn, and longtime political enemies gathered in the city. rostrum.
"I am happy today because Felix is going to change the country. It will give children free education and food, "said Nsangaa Tshibula, 39, whose white dress was adorned with sparkling pearls.
Outside the UDPS, Tshisekedi widely suspects that his election victory was made possible by a secret deal with Kabila, which said the outgoing president would continue to pull the strings behind the scenes.
Bread in the Kabila years?
Congolese sources in contact with senior government officials told Reuters that Fayulu won the elections decisively, but that these top officials had ordered the electoral commission to award the vote to Tshisekedi after reaching an agreement with Kabila.
Tshisekedi and the Kabila camps deny it, but Tshisekedi will struggle to shake Kabila's influence.
In his 18 years in office, Kabila has installed loyalists across the federal bureaucracy, and his ruling coalition has won a clear majority in the legislative elections, which means that Tshisekedi's prime minister will come from his ranks.
Kabila has refused to rule out a new presidential candidacy in 2023, when he will no longer be limited by a term limit.
That is why many Congolese wonder if Tshisekedi's presidency will mark a significant break with the Kabila years, during which the economy has grown soundly thanks to the growth of copper and cobalt production, but failed to significantly reduce endemic poverty.
The Congo remains deeply unstable years after the official end of a 1998-2003 regional war in the eastern border areas with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, which claimed the lives of millions of people , mainly by hunger and disease.
Dozens of militias continue to ravage these areas. According to the United Nations, three days of ethnic violence last month in the normally peaceful west also killed nearly 900 people.
During the election campaign, Tshisekedi promised to move the government for at least three months in the city of Goma, on the border with Rwanda, with the aim of reaffirming state control over that part of the country.
But badysts believe that the lack of legitimacy it was perceived after the disputed election could embolden the armed challenges of his government.
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