How South Africa, US elections could shape Tshisekedi’s bread in Kinshasa
Regional analysts in East Africa, and many people in Rwanda, think Washington’s posture in DRC is driven by the need to get a slice of its vast precious mineral resources. ILLUSTRATION | JOSEPH NYAGAH | NMG
The conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the future of the giant country, and that of President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, could be dramatically altered by two distant elections. The first is South Africa’s May election and the second, the US presidential vote in November.
A region already in turmoil was plunged into a new crisis when the M23 rebels returned to war after a nine-year hiatus, blaming Kinshasa for reneging on the terms of the political settlement that ended the fighting over a decade ago, and persecution of the Kinyarwanda-speaking people of the country. That persecution has, in recent months, become a full-on ethnic cleansing campaign.
