The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will hold its next presidential, legislative and local elections on December 20, 2023, according to the electoral commission of the African country, currently immersed in a serious episode of tension due to the clashes between the national army plus Kenyan and Ugandan forces against the rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) in the east of the country.
«The commission calls for the participation of all actors in the electoral process to ensure its success,» said the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Denis Kadima, during his announcement, reported by the news portal Actualité.
The electoral calendar has finally been published after several months of postponements, which had led the opposition to presage the artificial extension of the mandate of the current president, Felix Tshisekedi.
It should be recalled that the Congolese opposition has on numerous occasions expressed its distrust of the CENI and Kadima for their alleged lack of impartiality. In the 2018 elections, the body awarded victory to Tshisekedi in the polls despite his major opposition challenger, Martin Fayulu, claiming a landslide victory.
Kadima won the presidency of the CENI with the support of only six groups against the opposing votes of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Cenco) and the Protestants (Church of Christ in Congo, ECC) who accuse him of corruption and proximity to the current president.
Meanwhile, the country has dawned with a hugely fragile cessation of hostilities agreement between Congolese forces and the M23 has been accused since November 2021 of carrying out attacks against DRC Army positions in North Kivu, seven years after the parties reached a truce. UN experts have accused Uganda and Rwanda of supporting the rebels, although both countries have denied this.
The conflict has also led to a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of supporting the M23, although Kigali has rejected these claims and has accused its neighbor of allegedly supporting the rebel movement of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
However, violence persists in North Kivu: in the last hours it has been known that five people were killed during an attack led by a group of armed assailants against the residence of a senior army officer, on the night of Friday to Saturday, November 26 in Butembo.
The mayor of Butembo, senior chief commissioner Roger Mowa, indicates that the slain officer was shot while on his way to the home of a superior. He adds that during the subsequent clashes three of the assailants were also killed and two soldiers were wounded.
Captain Antony Mwalushay, Army spokesman in the region, identifies the attackers as Mai-Mai militiamen of the Baraka group stationed in the hills overlooking the neighborhoods on the northwestern outskirts of Butembo.
According to the captain, this was an act of revenge after the arrest a week ago of four of his colleagues implicated in the murder of a Congolese soldier found beheaded in Furu.
