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Dreams, Battles, and the Rout of the Elite in Congo-Kinshasa: The Mourning of an Imagined Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

Martin Kalulambi Pongo
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Extract

On May 17, 1997, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (AFDL), led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila, took power in Kinshasa after a seven-month liberation war. According to the opinion of numerous observers, Kabila’s rebellion would be a saving act; it would distance the Congo from the specter of civil war toward which it was fatally headed. Ethnic opposition to the Mobutu regime was stirring. The rebellion would save the country from the claws of cynical politicians and from the political chasm they dug with the sovereign national conference, which created nonfunctional political institutions. Ten months after the new leaders were installed at Kinshasa, it is still too soon to evaluate their efforts to put the country back on its feet. But many praiseworthy initiatives, of which the Bulletin of the Congolese Press Agency daily informs us, touch all aspects of national life.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , 1998 , pp. 22 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1998 

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References

Notes

1. They were Mme. Justine Kasavubu (former representative of the UDPS in Belgium), Paul Bandoma (UDPS), Dr. Jean-Baptiste Sondji, and Kinkela Vinkansi (members of the Patriotic Front).

2. This “parliament” is the crowds who gather around Kinshasa newspaper kiosks to discuss the political events of the day.

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8. Ibid.

9. Bourdieu, P., La noblesse d’État (Paris: Minuit, 1989)Google Scholar. See also Riggs, F.W., “Évolution sématique du terme bureaucratie,” Revue Internationale des Sciences Sociales, no. 4 (1979)Google Scholar.

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16. Provinciale, Voir Actualité, “Kinshasa: Installation du comité cellulaire de l’AFDL Kingasani II dans la commune de Kimbanseke,” Bulletin quotidien de l’Agence Congolais Presse, Kinshasa, February 3, 1998 Google Scholar

17. Swahili term used by Kabila to designate the committees of AFDL (“Hommage à Patrice Émery Lumumba: Discours du Président de la République Démocratique du Congo, M’zee Laurent-Désiré Kabila,” Bulletin quotidien de l’Agence Congolais Presse, January 19, 1998).

18. These declarations find themselves in many statements and press conferences, particularly in the speech of January 17, 1998. “Hommage à Patrice Émery Lumumba: Discours du Président de la République Démocratique du Congo, M’zee Laurent-Désiré Kabila,” Bulletin quotidien de l’Agence Congolais Presse, Kinshasa, January 19, 1998.

19. Ibid.

20. Pongo, M. Kalulambi, “De l’argumentation politique à la mémoire collective: le passé récent revisté à la Conférence nationale souveraine du Zaire,” in L’histoire en partage. Usages et mises en discours du passé, ed. Jewsiewicki, B. and Létourneau, J. (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996)103–127 Google Scholar.

21. “Hommage à Patrice Émery Lumumba: Discours du Président de la République Démocratique du Congo, M’zee Laurent-Désiré Kabila,” Bulletin quotidien de l’Agence Congolais Presse, Kinshasa, January 19, 1998.

22. See a communication of the Assembly of Congolese Patriots, #009 from December 26, 1997, relative to the press conference of Laurent-Désiré Kabila from December 24, 1997.

23. See the document “Position of Former Leaders of the Republic of Zaire on the Call by President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Brussels, December 31, 1997, Signers include Mutombo Bakafwa Nsenda, Kitenge Yezu, Kabuya Lumuna, Ekumbani Ombata, Kyembwe Jules, Tambwe Mwamba Alexis, Kin-Kiey Mulumba, Kisombe Kiaku Muisi, and Anzu-luni Bembe.