Event reports
On 30 November a conference organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung was held in Brussels to discuss the challenges and difficulties facing the politicians and population of the former Belgian colony. The title of the conference was "The Democratic Republic of Congo after Presidential and Parliamentary Elections 2006: National Perspectives and External Assistance". Wilhelm Staudacher, Secretary General of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, explained the aim of the conference as follows: "We want this conference not only to speak about the country and raise awareness in Europe about what's going on there, but also to give Congolese leaders a platform so that they can give us their view of the situation“. Most of the discussions between the 50 or more participating politicians, academics, UN officials and representatives of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung itself focussed on three main issues:
- How can the DRC's still fragile democratic institutions – especially its national parliament and provincial assemblies – be strengthened and supported?
- How can the highly splintered system of political parties be consolidated?
- And what reforms can be carried out to ensure that safety and security are guaranteed in the eastern region of the country as well?
"The EU will remain a vociferous backer of the process of democratisation", promised Domenico Rosa, Member of Cabinet to the EU's Development Commissioner, Louis Michel, after Dr Peter R. Weilemann, Director of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's European Office Brussels, and Wilhelm Staudacher, the Foundation's Secretary General, had greeted and made a few opening remarks to the participants in the Congo conference in Brussels. After all, a stable DRC is not only extremely important to Europe, but also to the rest of the world, Rosa said in his keynote speech. Wilhelm Staudacher, too, stressed that "major hopes and dreams, not only of the local population, but also of the international community are riding on this year's elections“.
The DRC now finds itself at a key moment in its development, underlined Domenico Rosa, saying that leading politicians had to take greater account of the needs and will of the people than had been the case in the past. This he identified as crucial for the fledgling democracy's future.
Rosa went on to say that over the past few weeks he had already seen encouraging signs for the country's future development. For instance, the work done by the Independent Electoral Commission and the way it had gone about its duties had been highly promising. Another indication, the fact that many Congolese had been issued with an identity card for the first time in their life, was a "first clear sign to the people that the State was developing and doing something for them“, without demanding kickbacks or anything in return.
But irrespective of these green shoots of democracy since the summer election a great deal remains to be done if the political system in Congo is to be equipped to survive. "Elections are merely one pillar of any democracy“, said Secretary General Staudacher, "but having a consolidated party-political system is just as important". Another key to the future of the Congolese democracy is strong, independent legislature, he added. The European Commission's Domenico Rosa highlighted security as a further vital area for the country's future development. Not only did the army have a role to play in this connection, he added, but the justice and legal system also needed to be refined.
For six long years 300 Congolese MPs have worked within a so-called 'transition government'. They were appointed, not elected by the Congolese people, so they lacked the democratic backing of the people they were supposed to be representing. Six long years it took, until summer 2006, to pave the way for an election held under normal conditions and finally allow the Congolese electorate to vote for their own representatives. Now, although it has been decided who will be representing which party in parliament, the country already finds itself faced with its next major challenge, for its young democratic institutions have virtually no practical experience. Accordingly, the first round of talks at the conference on 30 November concerned the problems currently in store for the country's national and provincial parliaments and how they can be strengthened and consolidated.
One of the greatest tasks according to Daniel Stroux, a UN staffer working on the programme supporting the transitional institutions, is to swiftly establish a new, smoothly functioning administrative system in the country's current 11 provinces. "What's more, many of the elected representatives have no experience whatsoever of what political work entails".
Joseph Mbenza Thubi, the interim President of the Congolese National Assembly, agreed with Stroux, and called for training for the Congolese MPs: "We definitely need information about parliamentary and democratic culture, so that no dictatorship can ever arise in our country again".
However, the MPs not only lack knowledge, they also have no working infrastructure to discharge their duties, pointed out Christian Brotcorne, the chairman of the Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH) group and a member of the Belgian Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee. The buildings and offices are in poor repair, and there is also a shortage of EDP equipment and computers.
Dr Charles Yaovi Djrekpo, principal technical adviser to the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in the DRC, added a further element to the debate by saying that before the people's elected representatives could work efficiently, the role of the opposition parties also had to be legally secured. "In democratic institutions, the opposition must be able to serve in that capacity. It mustn't be forced out onto the streets“, he warned. Wilhelm Staudacher, Secretary General of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, concurred with this, pointing out that at the same time opposition parties also need to develop their ability to monitor political decisions taken by the government.
Faced with these challenges, Elisabeth Tison, Head of Unit responsible for the Region of Central Africa and the Great Lakes in the European Commission's DG Development, promised to continue providing the Democratic Republic of Congo with aid in the medium term: "This year there will be no let-up in the aid provided by the EU, nor will such aid be abandoned over the next few years“, she said.
Summing up the views expressed, Frank Spengler, the Deputy Head of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung's Department for International Cooperation, who had chaired the debate, said that the stabilisation of the young democracy would primarily depend on the political will of the local population themselves. "Outside help can only complement the efforts made by the Congolese people themselves", he stressed.
Ubiquitous posters depicting ambitious candidates and promotional actions on virtually every street corner for one party or another shortly before the elections in the summer demonstrated very clearly the vast number of political parties in the DRC. Indeed, parties have been springing up like mushrooms since the early 1990s, so literally countless groups were courting voters' favour. Yet how can such a fragmented party system function properly in the long term? And what can be done to consolidate the existing structures?
These questions were tackled during the second round of discussions at the conference, held late in the morning. Andrea E. Ostheimer, Resident Representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, who was chairing the debate, said that there were currently 273 registered parties in Congo. Speaking from his experience as an election observer, Jürgen Schröder, an MEP from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said: "Many of them have exotic names and were totally new to the general public".
Professor Ferdinand Mushi Mugumo from the Catholic Faculties of Kinshasa suggested that if the Congolese party-political structure was less fragmented, the entire electoral process would certainly have been even more transparent. The large number of political parties not only posed problems before the election, but is continuing to do so today. Andrea Ostheimer said that a total of 69 parties and party alliances are currently represented in parliament, plus a further 63 independent MPs. "This means there can be 132 different opinions on a single issue", she concluded.
Professor Mushi Mugumo said that the large number of independent MPs was due to the fact that a large proportion of the population viewed many of today's influential and relatively young parties with considerable scepticism, as many of them had been born out of militia movements that had previously not shrunk back from becoming involved in bloodshed. "That is precisely why these parties have a negative image", the professor continued. Accordingly, many Congolese had opted to vote for an independent candidate.
The prospect of having over 130 different opinions expressed in parliament when problematic issues are raised, renders effective political work extremely difficult under the conditions currently prevailing in Congo. Consequently, Professor Mushi Mugumo believes it is vital that the parties form coalitions and crucial that they hone their skills in developing medium- to long-term political strategies. "Parties need to adopt specific values and issues“, he said, "for that is the only way that political progress can be made".
In a largely self-critical contribution, Dr Florentin Mokonda Bonza, the presidential candidate for the Convention of Christian Democrats (CDC), pinpointed another difficulty currently facing the emerging democracy, namely the way Congolese politicians see their role. "Politics is often viewed as a job, a way of earning a living, rather than a service to the people," he explained. The conference participants unanimously agreed that a change of attitude was required here. Dr Adolphe Onusumba, a former Congolese Defence Minister and now an elected MP, hit the nail on the head when he said: "Political ideas – not individuals – must take precedence“.
Andrea E. Ostheimer concluded that to shore up the political parties in Congo and thereby support the role they play in the political process, it was important to consider another aspect: the country's legal framework. Firstly, the DRC needed a clear system for funding political parties; secondly, the opposition's influence had to be enshrined in law, for example through a guaranteed right to free speech.
Even though the United Nations and the European Union had sent troops to the region to secure the Congolese elections, time and time again in the weeks leading up to polling reports of violent clashes between the supporters of rival presidential candidates were heard or published in the country's newspapers. As far away as Brussels, the capital of Congo's former colonial power, Belgium, heated exchanges took place between rival supporters in the streets, and police were brought in to prevent scuffles from breaking out. Clearly, the battle for political power was highly emotive.
Since then, the situation has calmed down again somewhat, but this has not prevented some areas of Congo from remaining dangerous. "There is still a security vacuum in some areas, particularly in the eastern part of the country,“ said Oliver Blake, a senior governance advisor for the British government's Department for International Development (DFID). Insurgents in these regions are continuing to take up arms against the young democracy. The third and final round of talks, chaired by Alexandre de Bordelius, a Wing Commander on the EU military staff (Council of the European Union), focussed on the question of how the security sector could be reformed and on the practical problems faced by people on the ground.
All the participants agreed that if security was to be ensured in a country covering an area of over 2 million km2, the Congolese government and the international community had to take action in several areas simultaneously. "Any reform of the security sector must affect not just the army but also include the police, the customs authorities, air traffic controllers, and the immigration sector“, said Colonel Barry Barnwell, giving an account of his experiences as a member of the EU security reform mission (EUSEC) in Congo.
Dr Adolphe Onusumba said that the security of a country essentially hangs on its cooperation with neighbouring countries, then added: "We need to develop a policy that promotes good neighbourly relations between countries. To this end, we should organise an international peace conference in the Great Lakes Region“.
Oliver Blake said that for a national security strategy to be effective, it was important that the Congolese authorities draw up the appropriate plans themselves. However, the international community should support them in this, he continued. UN staffer Daniel Stroux suggested involving the parliament as closely as possible in these discussions, since that would enable it to fulfil its political monitoring role properly.
Even if a comprehensive security concept in the DRC will require concurrent action being taken at several levels, it soon became clear from the discussions between the conference participants that serious problems affecting the Congolese Army, which were preventing it from functioning efficiently, posed a particular threat to security in the country. Soldiers who had until fairly recently been fighting each other under the leadership of opposing warlords had virtually no pay, suffered from low morale, and had little equipment or training – and this was in spite of the assistance already received from abroad. "The conditions experienced by soldiers today are simply unacceptable“, said Meike de Goede, an academic who has studied so-called 'warlord structures' in the eastern region of the country.
"The international community has provided financial s upport," said Colonel Barry Barnwell, "but there is hardly any money for the soldiers to live on. And often, the little money they do have has to be spent on fuel for army vehicles." He continued: "They have perhaps €4 left over each month, so it's hardly surprising to hear reports of soldiers attacking other people. If they didn't, they would hardly be able to survive“.
Another problem identified by Colonel Barry Barnwell is that of integrating former rebel troops into a national army, a process which is already under way. "Integrating these forces in this way is to some extent superficial," said Colonel Barnwell. Many new national soldiers still hold the same old political views and convictions as before and feel no loyalty to the new democracy, especially since the meagre wages paid to them so far by their new commanders render them unable to support either themselves or their families.
"If we want to transform an army of bandits into a protective force, its members need to be trained as professionals“, Colonel Barnwell emphatically demanded.
It is estimated that such a fundamental reform of the army would take approximately 15 years, yet Barnwell insists on the importance of buckling down to these difficult, long-term tasks. However, he also warned of the "need to pay for new weapons and training for new officers, because if this isn't done, the Congolese Army will remain highly politicised“. And in the long run that would ultimately provide no security for the Congolese people.
Undoubtedly, the future development of this still fragile democracy poses many risks, be they associated with shoring up the country's rookie parliament, consolidating its fragmented party-political system, getting to grips with thorny security issues. However, the discussions at the Congo conference also highlighted numerous opportunities, Summing up, Andrea E. Ostheimer, Resident Representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, called on the participants to continue supporting the fledgling democracy as it progressed along its rocky path. "The Democratic Republic of Congo should not only be central in Africa, but also a central concern of ours“.
(Translation from Mirjam Stöckel’s report in German)