President Joseph Kabila on Friday announced the appointed a new prime minister, Bruno Tshibala Nzenze, frustrating the country’s opposition.
DRC citizens had been eagerly waiting the decision after Kabila promised on Wednesday he would appoint a new premier within 48 hours. He however, did not pick the choice of the opposition coalition and most Congolese, Felix Tshisekedi, but instead appointed a former member of leading opposition UDPS party. Tshibala was recently kicked out of the Democratic Republic of Congo's main opposition party. He had been a key player in the opposition coalition known as the Rassemblement that signed a political agreement with the ruling party in December 2016. The announcement comes as a new twist to DRC's roadmap toward fresh presidential elections and is to likely further divide Kabila's opponents. Tshibala will now be the Prime Minister in the new transitional Government until the presidential election that he is expected to organise a later in 2017.

Kabila’s mandate expired in 2016, but he refused to step down from office and to allow general elections to take place, which lead to violent and tragic protests in September of 2016. At the time, a power-sharing deal was tabled to restore order, in terms of which Kabila agreed to step down as president in December 2017, when elections were scheduled to take place.

He replaced Samy Badibanga, who resigned on Thursday after being in the post for only three months. Tshibala was ousted from the UDPS in March after he and a few other prominent opposition leaders challenged the selection of veteran leader Etienne Tshisekedi’ Renewed riots erupted on Tuesday, 4 April 2017, after negotiations between government and the mentioned opposition group broke down. The unrest and strike caused a near standstill in commercial activity in the capital of Kinshasa and the city of Lubumbashi and most government offices.

His appointment comes after talks to negotiate Kabila's exit from power broke down last week; the main disagreement was on the choice of prime minister. It is anticipated that situations of unrest will continue to arise intermittently during the course of the year and leading up to the scheduled elections. Tshisekedi's son, Felix, who replaced his father as president of the Rassemblement said Kabila violated the deal by not naming a candidate of the alliance's choosing.
 

Africa Team