IGIHE

Category: Politics

  • Inside meeting room in Bujumbura when Tshisekedi accepted to engage in negotiations with M23

    The latter is part of resolutions of the Extra-Ordinary Summit of East African Community (EAC) Heads of State held in Bujumbura on Saturday 4th February 2023.

    During an exclusive interview with IGIHE, Prof. Nshuti disclosed that regional Heads of State sticked to dialogue as the ideal process that might put an end to the fighting between Congolese Army (FARDC) and M23.

    “What we have agreed upon as the region and considered it to be the best solution to this problem, is that nothing is better than dialogues. They have to endorse it when the resolution is backed by the whole region; otherwise, the presence of regional forces in the country would be useless,” he said.

    Even though discussions between Heads of State resolved to opt for the process of negotiations, there are footages showing Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi chatting with Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, the commander of EAC troops deployed in DRC.

    Tshisekedi is heard telling Maj Gen Nyagah that they want the troops he leads to help them in the fight against M23.

    Prof. Nshuti has said that fighting M23 was not part of discussions.

    “Fighting was not part of discussions because we focused on political process. It was about dialogue not fighting M23 […] They were only asked to cease fire and withdraw as negotiations go on. The option for EAC troops to fight them was not part of discussions,” he noted.

    Prof. Nshuti further revealed that Tshisekedi himself also agreed to engage in negotiations with M23.

    “We asked them to engage in negotiations and agreed, this time around, that they are going to do so. He [Tshisekedi] accepted it. It is about reaching consensus as a region on what should be done. Ceasefire and withdrawal going hand in hand with negotiations,” he said.

    “It is about helping them to restore peace and end hostilities not helping them to fight,” added Prof. Nshuti.

    Resolutions held in Bujumbura complement previous ones reached in Luanda, the capital of Angola in November 2022 where concerned parties were urged to end hostilities and engage in dialogue.

    At the time, M23 was asked to withdraw from captured areas to be allowed to take part in discussions. The rebel group has so far withdrawn from several areas and handed them over to EAC forces.

    However, fighting has been going on between FARDC and M23, which claims that it is protecting Kinyarwanda-speaking communities from attacks by Congolese Army.

    The repatriation of foreign armed groups from DRC including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) was also part of discussions in Bujumbura.

    FDLR is a terrorist group formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

    It was reported at different times that the rebel group works with FARDC to fight M23.

    The recent Extra-Ordinary summit of EAC Heads of State held in Bujumbura resolved that DRC should engage in negotiations with M23.

  • Cyprus’ presidential election heads for runoff

    Christodoulides, who ran as an independent, garnered 32.04 percent of the vote, and Mavroyiannis, who also ran as an independent and supported by the left wing AKEL party, garnered 29.61 percent of the vote, Chief Returning Officer Costas Constantinou announced after the counting of all votes on Sunday.

    Fourteen candidates participated in the election, but none of them won an absolute majority.

    Averof Neophytou, leader of the ruling DISY party, ended third with 26.11 percent of the vote and was thus left out of the presidential race, ending the party’s ten-year-long hold on power in the eastern Mediterranean island.

    Neophytou’s performance in the election was considered by political analysts as a blow not only to himself but also to his right-wing party.

    Both Christodoulides and Mavroyiannis had been close associates of the outgoing president Nicos Anastasiades who will step down at the end of February.

    Christodoulides served for four years as spokesman for Anastasiades and then as his foreign minister for another four years.

    Mavroyiannis, a diplomat at the foreign ministry, had been Anastasiades’ negotiator in peace talks with Turkish Cypriots for a settlement to the Cyprus problem.

    Political analysts said that the two presidential hopefuls would start wooing DISY voters for their support ahead of the runoff vote.

    A DISY official said the party would meet on Monday to decide its official stance in relation to the runoff.

    The Chief Returning Officer said that out of 561,273 registered voters 404,403 people, or 72.05 percent, cast ballot papers.

    People vote during the presidential election at a polling station in Nicosia, Cyprus, Feb. 5, 2023. Former Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides took the lead in Cyprus' presidential election on Sunday, and will face off with Andreas Mavroyiannis, who came second, in a runoff on Feb. 12. (Photo by George Christophorou/Xinhua)

  • Angola braces for highly competitive election

    Eight candidates running on the tickets of seven political parties and a coalition will compete in this year’s general election, believed to be a closely fought election since democratic elections were first introduced in the country in 1992.

    {{The voters}}

    Angola achieved independence from Portugal in 1975 after a protracted anti-colonial struggle. Its population had grown to 32.87 million as of 2021. The country’s constitution stipulates that voters must be at least 18 years old.

    According to the National Electoral Commission (CNE), there are 14.3 million registered voters for this year’s general election, which will also include the participation of overseas voters, with 22,560 citizens expected to vote from abroad. The expansion of voting rights to the diaspora, who are voting for the first time, also feeds into expectations of greater competitiveness.

    Of the country’s 18 provinces, Luanda, Huila, Benguela and Huambo remain the four largest strongholds. The four provinces have a total of 8.2 million registered voters, representing 57.2 percent of the total registered voters in the country. Luanda province alone has 4.6 million voters.

    THE PARTIES CONTESTING THE ELECTION

    The president is not directly elected in Angola. In accordance with the Angolan constitution, the top candidate of a political formation that wins the most votes is elected as president.

    This year, seven political parties and a coalition are contesting the elections as they vie for 220 seats in the National Assembly. Out of the 220 seats, 130 are elected from the national lists of the parties, and the remaining 90 parliamentarians are elected based on provincial lists, with each of the 18 provinces in the country electing five deputies.

    The competing parties are namely the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA), the National Patriotic Alliance (APN), the Social Renewal Party (PRS), the Humanist Party of Angola (PHA), the Nationalist Party for Justice in Angola (P-NJANGO), and the Broad Convergence for the Salvation of Angola-Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE).

    The Aug. 24 general election will be the fifth of its kind since democratic elections were first introduced in 1992 in the southern African country. The ruling party, the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), had won all the previous elections held in 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2017, respectively.

    2022 GENERAL ELECTION FRONTRUNNERS

    Incumbent President Joao Lourenco is running on a ticket of the ruling party MPLA, in hopes of seeking a second term in office. He will face the challenge from his major rival Adalberto Costa Junior, leader of the country’s largest opposition UNITA.

    The MPLA has chosen Esperanca Maria Eduardo Francisco da Costa as the candidate for the vice-presidency, while UNITA has picked Abel Chivukuvuku as the vice-president candidate.

    In the 2017 elections, the ruling MPLA won with an absolute majority of 61 percent of the votes, followed by UNITA with about 27 percent.

    President Joao Lourenco, 68, highlighted his resolve to fight corruption in an election rally held last week in Benguela province, his birthplace.

    Meanwhile, UNITA as the main Angolan opposition party intends to implement an inclusive and participative government to promote the country’s socioeconomic growth and the well-being of all Angolans.

    Sixty-year-old Adalberto Costa Junior is the current president of UNITA and a member of the National Assembly. He has also campaigned against public corruption. He was trained in electrotechnical engineering at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto and in public ethics at the Gregorian University in Rome.

    UNITA last week appealed for the responsible and positive behavior of supporters to enable the Aug. 24 elections to run in a peaceful and calm environment.

  • Burundi officially ratifies the agreement establishing African Continental Free Trade Area

    The extraordinary summit of heads of state of December 5, 2020, adopted the instruments marking the launch of reforms, and, officially, the AfCFTA project agreement is now implemented from January 1, 2021, for countries that have already ratified.

    Under the AfCFTA, the states that have ratified the agreement will agree to strongly liberalize their trade. The products of these lines (90% of tariff lines) are treated as non-sensitive and will have to be liberalized over a period of 10 years for the least developed countries (LDCs) and of 5 years for the other countries. Customs duties applicable to products on tariff lines considered sensitive (7%) will be subject to tariff dismantling of 13 years for LDCs and 10 years for other countries. And 3% of tariff lines are excluded from tariff commitments. They will not be liberalized.

    According to experts, the AfCFTA does not plan to suppress the achievements of the regional economic communities. In the case of the EAC of which Burundi is a part, there are certain commitments that must be negotiated as a block rather than just one country. “At the EAC level, we have set up a customs union with a common external tariff. To do this, we need to submit bulk pricing offers. As a result, such offers have already been submitted to the AfCFTA secretariat,” notes Chrysologue Mutwa, Director General of Commerce.

    {{The background}}

    The initiative to create a free trade area in Africa dates from the 1960s. Indeed, Kwame Nkrumah, the first Ghanaian president spoke in his book (Africa must unite) (Africa must unite) of (Union of African States), and the adoption of a common economic strategy in 1963. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) also was created 1963, but the ideas and the will were not shared.

    As supporters of federalism such as Kwame Nkrumah and those inspired by an (Africa of States) with Senegalese President Léopord Sedar Senghor at the head split, the OAU eventually became an organization with the goal of cooperation and the idea of ​​integration was put aside.

    In 1980, the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa, known as the Lagos Plan of Action, was developed to find solutions to issues relating to the continent’s self-sufficiency.

    Africa was facing a crisis due to global economic shocks, such as the 1973 oil crisis and the Lagos plan of action came as a response to the structural adjustment programs of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Despite the Lagos Action Plan, the African continent continued to experience growing economies in debt.

    {{The Abuja Treaty spells out a gradual and phased regional integration ː}}

    – The first phase IS to strengthen the existing regional economic communities (RECs) and encourage the creation of other communities over a period of five years;

    – The second phase would be to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers in the trade of RECs over a period of eight years:

    – The third phase is the creation of free trade areas, and customs unions by and in the RECs over a period of ten years; The fourth step would be the creation of an African common market,

    – The fifth step would be the creation of a monetary union with a single currency and a Pan-African parliament in four years;

    – Finally, over a period of five years, the free movement of people, goods and capital must be concretized followed by an African monetary fund. Based on the Abuja Treaty, the integration process is expected to be completed in 2028.

    Meanwhile, the Abuja Treaty has encouraged the creation of several RECs. More than fourteen RECs are recognized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa including the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (in English Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa COMESA), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) among others.

    The continent’s integration project remained on the table of African leaders, with the arrival of the African Union (AU) in 2002. In October 2008, leaders of SADC, COMESA, and EAC announced the start of discussions on a tripartite free trade agreement.

    The tripartite thus became a launching pad for the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF) and on June 15, 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa, discussions began and the AU SE summit focused on a single point which is intra-African trade. In January 2015, the continent set a new goal, in line with its integration project (Agenda 2063).

    The latter remains the strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next fifty years and is titled (Africa We Want). Among the major projects of the program are the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the African passport and the free movement of people demonstrate this Pan-African desire to unite, a will, and a vision that dates back a century. It was in January that the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, was tasked by his peers to lead and complete the process of negotiations on the ZLECAF project.

  • It is time to mend relations with Rwanda – Ndayishimiye

    Ndayishimiye made the revelation on Thursday 1st July 2021 as Burundi celebrated the 59th Independence Day.

    The ceremony was also attended by Rwanda’s Prime Minister, Dr. Edouard Ngirente representing President Paul Kagame.

    Ndayishimiye revealed that the representation of Rwanda during the ceremony induces pride to Burundians and considered it the beginning of a new page for both countries relations.

    “I would like to let you know that this day is memorable to Burundians. I am pretty sure that no Burundian is unhappy today because our neighbors from Rwanda have come to stand with us,” he said.

    Ndayishimiye told Premier Ngirente that the visit to Burundi has impressed Burundians considering tensions that have existed between both countries.

    “Your coming has impressed Burundians due to tensions that have characterized both countries. I would like to tell you that we have a common saying both in Kirundi and Kinyarwanda […] Agafuni kabagara ubucuti ni akarenge [friendship is reinforced by reciprocal visits]. Today’s visit conveys a meaningful message,” he said.

    Ndayishimiye further explained that the visit is a gesture for Rwanda and Burundi to turn a new page of relations.

    “We are aware that Rwanda and Burundi have been writing a book for the past years. We are now bound to read it to write a new chapter. This gives hope to read the previous book together and close it to write another chapter which alludes to normalized friendship. There is optimism that we are leaving the past turbulence behind to start a new era of relations,” he revealed.

    Ndayishimiye also conveyed a message to his counterpart of Rwanda.

    “Allow me to carry our message to all Rwandan friends, particularly extend our greetings to the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul Kagame and tell him that we are extremely delighted with this visit to Burundi which gives us great hope,” he noted.

    Addressing participants of the ceremony, Premier Ngirente highlighted that it was of great honor to join Burundians during celebrations of the 59th Independence Day and thanked Burundians for warm welcome.

    He thanked President Ndayishimiye for inviting Rwanda to the historical event and reiterated Rwanda’s commitment to promote cooperation and bilateral relations for interests of both countries’ people.

    “It is time for Rwanda and Burundi to build on shared foundations of history to achieve sustainable development,” he said.

    In 2015, a group of Burundian soldiers attempted to overthrow the then President Pierre Nkurunziza but the plan was nullified. Since then, Burundi has been accusing Rwanda of accommodating suspects behind the failed coup plot. Rwanda has however been insisting that the individuals are considered as refugees who must be protected against deportation by international laws.

    The political mishap later halted cooperation and free movements between both countries.

    Despite misunderstandings that have characterized both countries, both countries are promising to bring the situation back to normal for mutual benefits.

    As he delivered ‘State of the Nation Address’ towards the end of last year, President Kagame explained that Rwanda continues to partner with neighboring countries to address security issues in the region.

    He pointed out foreign relations’ gaps for countries including Burundi noting that the situation will finally get a solution.

    The President of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye has said that the time has come to mend political tensions that ruined relations with Rwanda since 2015.
    Premier Ngirente (right) joined Burundians during celebrations of the 59th Independence Day.

  • Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou Nguesso re-elected with 88% of vote

    Denis Sassou Nguesso has been re-elected president of the Republic of the Congo with 88.57 percent of the vote, according to provisional results.

    The 77-year-old has been in power for an accumulated 36 years, first taking the helm in 1979 and then again in 1997 after losing the country’s first multiparty elections in 1992.

    His victory, announced on Tuesday by the interior minister citing figures from the electoral commission, was widely expected after a March 20 ballot boycotted by the main opposition.

    The Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) said in January it would not to field a candidate in Sunday’s vote, arguing the conditions were not conducive for holding elections and that it would only lead to more divisions in the country.

    “Rights activists say there’s no freedom of speech and there was no chance of having any democratic process in the first place,” said Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from the capital, Brazzaville.

    The election was also overshadowed by the death – reportedly from COVID-19 – of Nguesso’s only main rival, Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who secured 7.84 percent of the vote.

    One of the losing candidates, Mathias Dzon, has said he plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court to cancel the official results, citing an article of the constitution “which provides for the cancellation of the ballot when a candidate dies or is unable to vote”.

    However, the head of the national independent electoral commission said that the article in question does not apply this time.

    “Kolelas died after the vote in Paris so Article 70 cannot be evoked in these conditions,” said Henri Bouka, who is also president of the Supreme Court in Congo.

    After retaking power in 1997, following a brief civil war, Nguesso was elected in 2002 and then again in 2009, for what was to be his second and final seven-year term.

    But in 2015, he pushed through constitutional reforms that removed the 70-year age limit that would have barred him from contesting polls the following year. The referendum also removed the two seven-year term limit and introduced three five-year terms.

    Congo’s economy has been in crisis since 2014 when oil prices collapsed. That caused the country’s external debt, much of it owed to private oil traders such as commodities giant Glencore, to soar to more than 100 percent of gross domestic product.

    The coronavirus pandemic and resulting drop in oil prices last year has made matters worse.

    The economy contracted by more than 8 percent last year and is expected to grow by less than 1 percent this year.

  • DRC: Kabila knows his limits, says political analyst Eloge Mwandwe

    Mwandwe says that it is instead, time for Tshisekedi to deliver on what he promised people who voted him in 2018.

    Since last year, DRC has seen many political developments including the divorce between the alliance of Joseph Kabila’s coalition FCC and that of Tshisekedi, CACH.

    Tshisekedi’s side has been accusing that of his predecessor which enjoyed majority in both parliament and government, of barring some development projects aimed at fulfilling pledges Tshisekedi made during elections.

    By the end of last year, Tshisekedi made some reforms including conducting political consultations to form a new majority in national assembly, which saw senator Modeste Bahati Lukwebo, the former ally of Joseph Kabila nominated to help in forming Tshisekedi’s new political grouping, known as the Sacred Union.

    Lukwebo presented his report last week to the president, and announced that more than 390 lawmakers agreed to join the new coalition. It was the same week that Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba resigned with his government, after being voted out by the parliament.

    Mwandwe who is also a lecturer at University of Likasi in Kinshasa, told IGIHE that he does not think Kabila will retaliate.

    He said that Kabila has had his 18 years in office, and he has nothing left to offer.

    “The new identified majority has nothing to do with individual, instead, it was formed to improve citizens’ life, It is about the country. I do not think that President Kabila after eighteen years of power, has something else to offer”, he said

    Mwandwe added that Kabila has done what he could “and now, it’s time for the current president, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi to implement his vision through the next government.”

    Though Kabila has no majority both in parliament and government, he still has some people who are loyal to him and who are ready to fight back.

    For Mwandwe, he doesn’t see it happening, because “Congolese people know President Kabila and he knows his limits”.

    He adds that people should take DRC as a different nation from what it used to be.

    “People should understand that the DRC has moved from a country which could not give hope to its citizens, to a country envisioning hope for its citizens. Majority of Congolese are focused on implementing the new president’s vision”, Mwandwe said.

    After resignation of DRC Prime Minister Ilunkamba last week, the big task that lies ahead of president Tshisekedi is to form a new government made of new faces from Sacred Union.

    Congolese political analyst Eloge Mwandwe says, it is time for Tshisekedi to deliver on promises.
    DRC president, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi interacting with his predecessor Joseph Kabila. Net Photo

  • ‘Rwanda doesn’t need mediation with Uganda’

    “Rwanda doesn’t need mediation with Uganda. This moral equivalence should stop. If the Government of the United Kingdom wants to be helpful, it should rather pressure
    Kampala to release a hundreds of Rwandan citizens held incommunicado in CMI cells for more than two years and to stop supporting FDLR and RNC,” he said in a tweet
    commenting on the interview UK ambassador to Rwanda, Jo Lomas held with The
    Chronicles.

    During the interview, Amb Jo Lomas responded on whether UK will help mediate the
    current conflict between Rwanda and Uganda. “We are happy to offer support if
    needed but actually we think that the solution is here in the region,” she said.

    Rwanda accuses Uganda of violating fundamental rights of hundreds of Rwandans, whose names are known to the Government of Uganda, who have been killed, arrested, incarcerated without consular access and tortured, nor the close to one thousand illegally deported to Rwanda in inhumane conditions.

    The presence of armed groups and terrorist organizations hostile to Rwanda, including
    RNC, FDLR, and others, who are supported in their activities, including recruitment, by
    institutions and officials of the Government of Uganda are among other issues of which
    details have been repeatedly communicated to the Government.

    During this month, Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta held talks with the president of
    Rwanda on the sidelines of the National Leadership Retreat in Gabiro from where he
    went to meet Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni at his office in Entebbe.

  • The problem is not the border or road construction, the problem is politics- Kagame on Rwanda-Uganda relations

    The president made the remarks as he opened the Africa CEO Forum that kicked off today where he reflected on Continental Free Trade Area highlighting that free trade cannot be possible without political will.

    “Political will is in everything, it allows things that must work to work. Political will must come first,” he said.

    “The problem is not the road or the road being constructed. The problem is politics. We have 100s of people from Rwanda, arrested, detained in prisons for years in Uganda, without being charged or appearing anywhere in court. This means the message is Uganda is telling Rwandans don’t come here. We have raised this issue with the Ugandan government. We told you if you have people who have committed crimes, deal with that legally and openly,” added Kagame.

    Kagame highlighted that detained Rwandans have not been given access to counsel that even Ambassadors cannot visit them because they are held in places that are not known.

    “We have engaged with Uganda about that and have gotten nowhere,” he noted.

    “We had containers leaving Kigali, going to Mombasa. A container of minerals was blocked at the border for five months with no explanation. A Kenyan company was exporting milk from Rwanda. The containers were held until tens of thousands of liters of milk were spoilt,” added Kagame.

    The turbulence between Rwanda, Uganda relations dates two years. The government of Rwanda reports 900 Rwandans arrested, tortured while others were illegally expelled from Uganda.

    Rwanda also accuses Uganda of housing dissidents intending to threaten state security. Rwanda advised its people not to travel to Uganda until the situation comes back to normal.

    Ethiopia president Sahle-Work Zewde said that integration can’t be possible as long as countries still consider borders established by colonizers.

    He pointed out an example of Ethiopian war with Eritrea which resulted into closing borders for over 20 years.

    He noted that they finally came up with common understanding and reopened borders that they have started realizing advantages.

  • Kagame receives Tshisekedi, Africa CEO Forum kicks off

    Tshisekedi comes to Rwanda at a time when both countries are enjoying vibrant
    relationships. Both countries’ delegates last week signed agreement opening airspace
    that will see RwandAir flying to Kinshasa and Congo Airways vice versa to go into effect mid-April 2019.

    The forum is an opportunity for Tshisekedi to present his economic transformation agenda for a country whose economy mainly depends on mining.

    Tshisekedi who took on in January 2019 will present policies in other areas of the country’s economy like agricultural infrastructure, measures to reduce unemployment
    and promoting trade and investment as well.

    Togolese president, Gnasingbe who will also attend the forum is expected to present his country’s development agenda within the next five years.

    Among other guests who have arrived to Kigali are; Ethiopian prime minister Sahle-Work Zewde and Ivory Cost Prime Minister, Amadou Gon Coulibaly.

    The two-day forum that kicks off today at Kigali Convention Centre is the 7th of its kind and brings together around 1800 participants from 70 countries including four heads of states , 30 ministers and 700 CEOs.

    Discussions will focus on regional integration including the implementation of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA). It will be held under the theme: “Open Africa: From Continental Treaties to Business Realities”.

    Different CEOs, heads of governments and potential investors are expected to benefit from a networking platform during the Forum. This will help them identify opportunities.