Former African leaders say DR Congo’s future ‘in grave danger’

DAKAR, Senegal: Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and several former African leaders have warned of an “acute political crisis” in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), with little sign that long-delayed presidential elections will be held this year as planned.

The statement by Annan and nine former presidents says a political deal reached in December calling for elections this year — and without President Joseph Kabila as a candidate — is not being respected.
The statement says DR Congo’s future “is in grave danger” and that the crisis threatens both the vast, mineral-rich Central African country and the continent at large.
Deadly protests broke out in December as Kabila reached the end of his mandate. The opposition has accused the government of delaying elections to keep him in power. The government has said vote preparations need more time.

Decapitation and hunger: Survivors relive horror
Media reports say displaced people in DR Congo are fleeing an upsurge in violence between tribal militias and the security forces in the central Kasai region.
“Some people have even eaten sand to try and prevent starvation,” says Paulin Kiyankayi, a grim-faced doctor at Kikwit general hospital in the country.
He is tired after struggling for months to deal with a huge rise in the numbers of sick and hungry filling his wards. They suffer from malaria, anaemia, fever, diarrhea and abrasions.
About 1.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes in the region, including 600,000 children, after a series of killings left hundreds dead.
The UN says at least 42 mass graves have been found.
Since last September, the armed followers of tribal chieftain Kamwina Nsapu — who was killed in 2016 — have challenged the authority of the central government, in the belief that Nsapu is still alive, because he was buried by officials with no respect to tribal tradition.
The fighting has led to a sharp deterioration in the political, security and humanitarian situation in the country, and almost every week there are new victims of violence and human rights abuses.
“The militia appeared from nowhere and gathered the population together,” newly-widowed Nzenga tells AFP.
Around a dozen militiamen riding motorbikes and wearing red bandanas, arrived near her village in Kasai province in May armed with machetes and bows and arrows claiming, she says, that they were going to “liberate” the people.
Instead they burned down the villagers’ homes and decapitated her husband.
“He was a nurse and they accused him of working for the government,” says the 30-year-old in a ripped red and white shirt. “They killed four other people who refused to listen to their message (to oppose the government).”
After her husband’s murder, Nzenga and her five children fled their home, walking for several days before eventually catching a lift to Kikwit, more than 350 kilometers away. The family are among 17,000 displaced people, mostly women and children, to be registered by the authorities in the area, working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Since April, some 30,000 people fleeing killing, physical mutilation and sexual violence in DR Congo have also arrived in neighboring Angola and this week the UN refugee agency called for more resources to cope with the influx.
The UN has accused the Kamwina Nsapu rebels of a string of atrocities, while also blaming the Congolese army of disproportionate use of force.
Jean Kitambala, a 41-year-old street trader, is another survivor to escape the violence, but other members of his family were not so lucky.
He holds two of his children in his arms as he recounts how their mother was decapitated by militiamen. His three other children are missing.
“Our village is deserted. The people are either dead or they have left,” says Kitambala.