Congo still awaits its ‘Happy New Year’

It was the stuff of high drama and historic import. As the final minutes of 2016 ticked away in an expectant Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), New Year spectacles could do little to distract the eyes of the nation from talks taking place in the capital Kinshasa, the outcome of which would dictate the chances of peace or continued violence in 2017.

Nearly a full month into negotiations between representatives of President Joseph Kabila and his disgruntled opposition, led by Etienne Tshisekedi, word had it that, against the odds, an agreement was imminent.

So it proved to be when, just before midnight, it was announced that an accord had been reached, satisfactory to both sides and one to get the democratic process back on track.

The crisis that had been sparked – claiming multiple lives in protests – by the apparent refusal of Mr Kabila to end his second and final term in the presidential palace in November, will now ease with the terms of the agreement that the president will remain in place until the delayed elections take place in November 2017 (not 2018 as his supporters had hoped), while an opposition politician yet to be named will serve as his prime minister in the interim, hopefully bringing a balance against any political shenanigans Mr Kabila may get up to with the ‘breathing space’ he has gained.

And so DRC breathed too in a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of a peaceful run towards said elections.

Singular credit for the ‘quiet interlude’ must go to the Church mediators in this Congo affair, those led by Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani who acted as a mediating force throughout the talks.

Only the most begrudging would seek to detract from the prelates’ stubborn persistence in keeping the opposing sides at the negotiating table as first one side prevaricated (repeatedly) with the natural effect of causing the other to despair and eye the exit door. (It is notable that while the al Jazeera news network had no difficulty in lauding the Church’s role as “crucial”, it was largely ignored by the secular media of the West.)

For all that, however, it is correct to describe the achievement of Archbishop Utembi and his brother bishops as an interlude – he recognises this himself.

Mindful, perhaps, that no leader of DRC since independence has departed office peacefully (Mr Kabila gained the leadership when his own father and presidential predecessor was assassinated), and mindful too that neither Mr Kabila nor Mr Tshisekedi have themselves signed off on the negotiated agreement, Archbishop Utembi appealed on January 11 to the United Nations for its backing and support in getting DRC across the final few months to the elections.

“I ask one thing of the international community,” the archbishop said. “Help the people do everything to ensure the success of this accord, from its implementation to the organisation of presidential and legislative elections according to the agreed timetable.”

With agenda-driven voices on both sides quietly grumbling about the deal, Archbishop Utembi’s extra measure of caution may yet prove a sage tactic, effectively placing the UN’s peacekeeping force in DRC on alert against forces who care nothing for the people and everything for the privileges of power.

For all the December 31 parties elsewhere, DRC will wait until November to celebrate 2017.