KINSHASA APRIL 25, 2017 (CISA) – The appointment of Bruno Tshibala as Premier of DRC Congo has attracted criticism from local bishops who have accused the President Kabila of dishonouring the New Year’s Eve agreement.
In a statement sent to Fides, the bishops described the development as a distortion of the New Year’s Eve agreement that pushed for a general election before December 2017.
The agreement had stipulated that the Premier was to be selected after a consensus by the opposition parties which are now divided.
The failure of this consensus is attributed to the fact that the opposition had failed to agree on a who to chair the Control Committee for the enactment of the New Year’s Eve agreement that was signed on December 21, 2016 and President of the Reassembling of main opposition parties.
This led President Kabila to appoint Bruno Tshibala as the president of the reassembling taking over from the late Ettiene Tshisekedi.
The bishops argue that Tshibala represents only one party of the opposition and therefore appointing him as Premier goes against the agreement and prevents other stipulations in the agreement from being laid out as planned.
The bishops went on to say that the political impasse is adding on to the precarious economic and security conditions of the country, especially in Kasai where the late Kamuina Nsapu’s militia have been terrorising the local with frequent attacks on their property.
