Congolese Youth Fight Against President's Attempt to Extend Term Limits

[Jefferson23]

With more than 40 dead after protests against Congolese President Joseph Kabila's attempt to stay in power, Friends of the Congo representatives and a Congolese youth organizer discuss what's at stake for the country's citizens

March 16, 2015

Bio

Maurice Carney is a co-founder and Executive Director of the Friends of the Congo. He has fought with Congolese for over twenty years in their struggle for human dignity and control of their country. Mr. Carney worked with civic associations in West Africa providing training on research methodology and survey. He served as the interim Africa working group coordinator for Reverend Jesse Jackson while he was Special Envoy to Africa. He has provided analysis on the Congo for Al Jazeera, ABC News, Democracy Now, Real News Network, Pambazuka News, All Africa News, and a host of other media outlets.

Kambale Musavuli, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a human rights activist, Student Coordinator and National Spokesperson for the Friends of the Congo. Mr. Musavuli's professional activities, publications, and public engagements reflect his unflagging commitment to realizing peace and justice in the Congo. Mr. Musavuli has written for The Washington Post, Foreign Policy in Focus, The Huffington Post and numerous other academic and news publications. He has also been interviewed on National Public Radio, Democracy Now, ABC News, Al Jazeera English Television, Radio France International and a number of other radio and television programs. He has been profiled in publications such as Christianity, News and Record, and a few other newspapers around the world.

snip* Transcript:

KAMBALE MUSAVULI, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, FRIENDS OF THE CONGO: Yes. The Congolese are hoping that by 2016, President Kabila would not be in power, that will be the end of his second term. But for the past couple of years, they've been trying to find a way to constitutionally extend his terms. The Congolese Constitution says that the Congolese president can only have two terms, so in 2016 that will be the end. So they've played with a few tactics. One that we saw unfold which has caused the mass protest was to introduce a section in the electoral law that will make the census of the country happen before the presidential election. So if we are in 2015 and we have a census, it will take too long, way past 2016, to have the presidential election, which will extend, de facto, his presidency. So, because of that, we've seen people demonstrating that. And, of course, they want to continue to do so, because he does want to latch on to power. He does not want to leave in 2016. And the Congolese people are rising up and saying that they want a new leadership in the country that serves the interest of the people.

DESVARIEUX: Maurice, you just came back from the Congo, and you did this fact-finding mission as I stated in the introduction. Forty people have died. This is according to Human Rights Watch. What did you find when you went out there?

in full: http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13236