Demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans and waved flags as they marched down Kinshasa's streets on Sunday, calling for President Joseph Kabila to resign after his term ends in late December.

Addressing tens of thousands of protesters, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi said the electoral commission needed to be convened by September 19, the "first red line, which must not be crossed."

"The electoral body must be convened for the presidential election. If it is not, high treason will be proved in the person of Mr. Kabila, who will take responsibility for the misery of the Congolese people," said the 83-year-old leader.

Presidential polls are due to take place in November, but Kabila's government has said logistical problems may delay the vote.

In May, Congo's Constitutional Court ruled Kabila could remain in office in caretaker capacity beyond the end of his mandate. The ruling sparked fears that Kabila could try to extend his rule by a third term.

Tshesekedi credited with uniting opposition

Kabila, 45, took over as president of the country of 71 million people after his father was assassinated in 2001. He won a 2011 election against Tshisekedi, which critics say was marred by fraudulent practices.

Earlier this week Tshisekedi returned from Europe, where he had been undergoing medical treatment for two years. An immensely popular figure, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as a strong critic of former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Today, Tshesekedi is credited with uniting the voice of the opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tshisekedi has also demanded an end to "arbitrary judicial cases" against opposition leaders like Moise Katumbi, who was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for property fraud, making him ineligible to contest the upcoming presidential poll.

mg/cmk (AFP, Reuters)

 

ANALYSISBy Herman J. Cohen

Bemba was in jail for the 8 years during his trial at the ICC. He should be sentenced to time already served so he can return to the DRC where his leadership is needed, argues Hank Cohen.

Jean-Pierre Bemba was vice-president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 2003 to 2006. He is the popular political leader of the Congo's Equateur Province in the country's northwest, an area the size of France.

Between 1998 and 2002, the DRC was in a state of civil war, with several African countries involved militarily in support of the government or in support of various rebel movements. During this period, Jean-Pierre Bemba was President of the MLC party (Movement for the Liberation of the Congo). His party also had an armed wing of several thousand fighters who supported the government against various rebel movements.

The fighting in the DRC stopped in 2002, leading to a negotiated new constitution, and a transitional government from 2003 to 2006. During this period, Bemba was one of four transitional vice-presidents under the transitional president, Joseph Kabila. The first postwar democratic election was held in 2006, with Bemba obtaining the most votes in the first round, before losing to Kabila in the second round with 42% of the vote.

Before this though in 2002-2003, with a ceasefire in place in the DRC, Bemba decided to send his militia to neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in support of President Ange-Félix Patassé who was facing a number of armed rebellions.

Patassé had previously helped Bemba organise his armed force in the DRC. The civil war in the CAR was particularly nasty in the actions committed against civilian populations by the different armed factions, including Bemba's.

In view of crimes allegedly committed by his militia in the CAR, Jean-Pierre Bemba was indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for "crimes against humanity" in 2008.

The indictment said that Bemba's militia engaged in pillaging, rape and other crimes against civilians, including cannibalism. The prosecution document did not accuse Bemba of inciting his fighters to commit crimes against civilians. However, the prosecution accused him of failing to engage in proper supervision in order to prevent the crimes allegedly committed by his men.

After eight years of deliberations, the Court convicted Bemba of war crimes and crimes against humanity this March. In July, the court handed down a sentence of 18 years in prison, eight of which have already been served. His defence has decided to appeal.

I have read documents produced by both the prosecution and the defence. As a former military officer, I believe that the commander of troops is responsible for everything his soldiers do, or fail to do. But in the case of Bemba, I believe there are mitigating circumstances. The most important being that for much of the time his troops were in the CAR, he was in South Africa engaged in negotiations for the political transition and elections in the DRC.

It is not my place to argue about Bemba's guilt or innocence. However, I firmly believe that the nature of the offence should not be the cause of a long prison sentence as in the cases of Liberia's former president Charles Taylor and Chad's former president Hissène Habré, both of whom actively encouraged atrocities against civilian populations. Bemba's main offence was apparently neglect.

Bemba has already served eight years in prison during the long period of the trial. Given the nature of accusations against him, I believe those eight years are sufficient and that he should be sentenced to time already served.

Apart from the issue of justice, Bemba is needed in the DRC to resume his role as a political leader of a major ethnic region in Equateur Province. His vote tally in the 2006 election indicated that he is enormously popular and has significant leadership qualities. This is especially important at the present time because the DRC is going through a period of constitutional and political crisis.

President Kabila's second and final term officially ends in December 2016, but he is showing signs of not wanting to leave and of possibly finding ways to remain in power indefinitely. This is a period when the opposition needs to be unified in order to maintain maximum pressure against the regime, and Bemba is needed to stand with the opposition in support of constitutional democracy.

My message to the International Criminal Court is short: Bemba has already served his time; now let him to return to the DRC to serve his people.

Herman J. Cohen is a former US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.

More on This

Read the original of this report, including embedded links and illustrations, on the African Arguments site.

 

Khorhogo — From cosmetics to cooking, shea butter is popular around the world. It is made from the nut of the shea tree, known as “women’s gold” in Africa for it provides income to millions of women across the Sahel. In northern Ivory Coast, women are trying to transform shea butter from a cottage industry into big business.

It’s harvest season for karité, or shea, in northern Ivory Coast, and just like every year, Alice Koné picks up the fallen fruit. She processes the kernels in the traditional way her grandmother taught her.

It will take her hours of hard work to make the shea butter that will then be sold at the local market.

“Sometimes, shea butter pays well and we don’t need anything else. But when the harvest isn’t good, we have to get by with other products,” said Koné.

Like Koné, most women in the shea industry in Ivory Coast work independently and sell locally.

But shea butter is in high demand internationally for use in cosmetics or as a substitute for cocoa butter in chocolate.

Neighboring Burkina Faso and Ghana are among the world’s leading exporters. Burkina Faso earns an estimated $33 million annually exporting shea.

Ivory Coast is trying to catch up.

In one village, women have teamed up in a shea co-op.

“When you work in group, there are a lot of ideas, and also financial backers can come help us. We have received some assistance, a funding capital, they built us a warehouse. If you work alone, people can’t help you. They can’t build a warehouse for every woman,” said Ahoua Coulibaly, a shea butter producer.

In some fields in the area a new kind of shea tree is also being planted. This kind is more productive than the traditional wild type. And the country now has two mechanical processing units. Two years ago, the government began working to structure the shea sector, an effort spearheaded by Ali Keita.

“As soon as we have a strong cooperative structure, we will have clients in China, Europe and the United States. If we manage to create an inter-professional organization, it will allow the country to export shea butter internationally,” said Keita.

Keita is also pushing for more regional cooperation among shea butter-producing countries.