By Norm Dixon
Seemingly oblivious to the fact that Laurent Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL) achieved more in the struggle against the Mobutu dictatorship in eight months than the Kinshasa-based establishment "opposition" did in eight years, Etiene Tshisekedi has demanded the post of prime minister in the post-Mobutu administration, with greater powers than the president. Not surprisingly, the ADFL brushed aside the pretender's claim to the throne.
Tshisekedi's extravagant bid for power has been encouraged by the western powers, primarily Washington. Since the fall of Kinshasa, the west has applied pressure to the ADFL to form a "broad" interim administration so as to dilute the influence of the triumphant rebel movement with mainstream Mobutu-era politicians who western governments and business interests feel will defend their interests. Tshisekedi is their favourite.
The ADFL was prepared to include Tshisekedi in the new administration. "We are open to any tendency except Mobutu's followers, those who terrorised and oppressed our people", ADFL spokesperson Raphael Ghenda said. The announcement of the members of the administration — originally set for May 20 — was delayed as the ADFL attempted to make contact with Tshisekedi.
According to the May 23 Los Angeles Times, Kabila was prepared to offer Tshisekedi the position of minister for justice, interior or foreign affairs. British Guardian reporter Chris McGreal reported on May 27 that when asked to visit Kabila to discuss participation, Tshisekedi refused.
He instead demanded to be reinstated as prime minister, that he alone decide the composition of the cabinet and that the presidency be subordinate to the office of prime minister.
On May 23, the Alliance announced the names of 13 cabinet members. Seven were from the ADFL and six from various other opposition parties. Another four cabinet members are yet to be appointed. The post of prime minister was abolished. Kabila was named president and defence minister.
Tshisekedi's party did remarkably well, considering that there are more than 250 political parties in Congo. According to the major news services, Tshisekedi's Democratic Union for Social Progress (UDPS) gained two cabinet posts — finance minister Mawapenga Mwanananga and civil service minister Justine Mpoyo Kasavuba, who was Tshisekedi's foreign relations spokesperson in exile in Belgium.
However, Zaire Watch, a US-based internet magazine run by exiled Congolese, has also identified the new minister of agriculture, Paul Bandomba, as a UDPS member who twice served as minister defence under Tshisekedi when the latter was prime minister in 1992 and minister of public works during Tshisekedi's week-long 1997 premiership.
Minister of planning and development Babi Mbayi is also a member of the UDPS, the magazine reported. Post and telecommunications minister Kinkela Vinkasi, Zaire Watch reports, is also "close to Tshisekedi".
"What happened today is the outcome of the struggle led by the Alliance. We've liberated the country from dictatorship. No other people, no other force, succeeded in doing that", said Ghenda, appointed information minister, defending the right of the ADFL to a cabinet majority. The UDPS members in cabinet are "part of the Alliance now", Ghenda said.
Tshisekedi denounced the new government and called for a struggle against it: "This government doesn't exist for me. I ask all the people to resist with their last energy all attempts to impose a government without popular legitimacy".
Tshisekedi called for the withdrawal of "foreign troops" from Kinshasa. He was echoing the claim of Mobutu and the dictator's imperialist backers that the ADFL-led rebellion was a "foreign" invasion from Rwanda and Uganda, a charge based on the chauvinist view that the Congolese Tutsi minority who have lived in eastern Congo for centuries are Rwandan.
Telecommunications minister Vinkasi accused Tshisekedi of preaching "xenophobia and racial hatred" and offering Mobutu supporters a rallying point.
Thousands military officers, soldiers, along with their arms, and political operatives of the former Mobutu regime remain at large in Kinshasa. Thousands have fled to neighbouring Brazzaville, just a few kilometres away, where several thousand French troops are also mustered. Thousands of members of the genocidal forces of the former Rwandan regime have also regrouped across the Congo river.
In response to the Tshisekedi movement's chauvinism and the still uncertain security situation, the new administration on May 26 banned demonstrations and the activities of political parties outside the Alliance.
The actions of Tshisekedi's supporters have added weight to Vinkasi's charge. On May 23, several hundred marched through Kinshasa. Three bystanders were physically attacked for expressing support for the ADFL before rebel soldiers fired shots into the air to disperse them.
On May 24, demonstrators chanting anti-Tutsi slogans were again dispersed. ADFL officers reported that former Mobutu soldiers were identified amongst the 200 protesters.
On May 27 the largest pro-Tshisekedi demonstration yet occurred. A crowd estimated by Associated Press at 1000 marched 12 kilometres — chanting "Kabila, assassin of Congo" and "He gave our country to Rwanda!" — before being dispersed. Fifty people were detained. They were "scolded and released", said information minister Ghenda.
There is little evidence that Tshisekedi's support is rising. On May 26, Kinshasa's 6 million residents ignored a call for a general strike. The demonstration that day fell far short of the numbers predicted by UDPS leaders. Hundreds of young people each day line up to join the new people's army. On May 28, four mainstream opposition parties joined the ADFL.
In another show of support for the new rebel government, 40,000 people turned out on May 29 to see Laurent Kabila take the presidential oath in a football stadium. Kabila told the crowd that parliamentary elections would be held by April 1999. "That's a promise", he said.
An elected constituent assembly will debate a draft constitution in the meantime, he said, which will then be put to a referendum in December 1998.
Two hundred or so protesters, unmolested by rebel troops, chanted, "Where is Tshisekedi?". The crowd good-naturedly yelled back, "Go to Togo" (Togo was Mobutu's first stop when he fled the country).
While the international press has widely reported the ban on political party activity, it has ignored the fact that neighbourhood committees are being formed throughout the city in which residents are beginning to take charge of local affairs.
Pro-Tshisekedi newspapers continue to publish without restriction. The new administration announced on May 28 that it would begin preparations for the election of Kinshasa's mayor.
Tshisekedi's democratic credentials are questionable. He was a long-time member of Mobutu's party and served the dictator in various posts, including interior minister, justice and planning minister, ambassador to Morocco and first state commissar in 1991.
In 1961, he signed the arrest warrant for Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the leader of Congo's independence movement. Lumumba was murdered while in custody, on the orders of Mobutu at the CIA's urging. He has served as Mobutu's prime minister three times but has never been elected.
After 1991, despite promising a transition to democracy, Mobutu stonewalled. Tshisekedi's "opposition" amounted to working within the corrupt and discredited political system. Critics said he and the Kinshasa political class "opposed Mobutu by day and supported him by night".
As the ADFL closed in on Kinshasa, Tshisekedi refused to join the alliance or call on Kinshasans to join the rebellion. His only political demand since 1991 has been to be appointed prime minister.