President Paul Kagame, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union (AU), is set to convene a high-level consultation meeting of 16 heads of state and government on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a statement from AU headquarters in Addis Ababa has said. The AU did not give details of the agenda of the meeting, which will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. According to the statement, the high level meeting is expected to take place Thursday and it will be preceded by an internal consultation meeting by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to which DR Congo is a member. The pre-SADC meeting was also confirmed by Hage G. Geingob, the President of Namibia, who is also the incoming Chairperson of SADC. He said in a tweet this week that he had consulted President Lourenço of Angola on the DRC situation, and that they agreed a Double Troika will jointly convene in Addis Ababa. On the margins of #ADSW I consulted President Lourenço of Angola on the #DRC situation, which SADC has been following with great interest. A Double Troika will jointly convene, preceding a consultative meeting with the African Union on the same issue, on 17 Jan 2019, Addis Ababa. — Hage G. Geingob (@hagegeingob) January 15, 2019 DR Congo went to polls on December 30 last year and the country’s electoral commission, Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), declared Felix Tshisekedi as DRC’s President. It was supposed to mark Congo’s first uncontested democratic transfer of power in 59 years of restive independence and the beginning of a new era following 18 years of rule by President Joseph Kabila. However, the outcome of the elections have been sharply contested. Martin Fayulu—the runner up—claims that he won by a landslide, and that Tshisekedi struck a deal with Kabila to be declared victor. Tshisekedi and Kabila have both denied these allegations. Congo’s Catholic Church, one of the most powerful and influential institutions in the country, said that its own tally of the polls show a different winner to the one announced by the electoral commission. The AU had, however, earlier recognised the presidential results of the long-delayed elections in the Central African country. “The Chairperson of the Commission reiterates his congratulations to the people, political actors, civil society and the relevant national institutions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the conduct of the elections under conditions deemed satisfactory by the African Union Election Observation Mission led by President Dioncounda Traoré,” Moussa Faki Mahamat said earlier in a statement. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
