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DRC’s elections crisis not abating
The European Union, EU Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bart Ouvr is the latest victim in the deteriorating elections management crisis in that Central African nation, The Difference can report.
The envoy was expelled on Thursday in response to what the authorities say is the recent renewal of EU sanctions against Congolese officials including the ruling coalition’s candidate in Sunday’s presidential election, Mr Emmanuel Ramazini Shadary.
The decision to kick out the envoy was announced by the Foreign Ministry after a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Kinshasa, and is coming some two years after sanctions were first imposed on the officials as a way of pressuring the sit-tight Joseph Kabila administration to honour the nation’s constitution and conduct elections to pick his successor.
Earlier, the government had equally dismissed protests against the decision of the Congolese National Elections Commission, CENI to postpone the polls in some notable opposition strongholds until March, 2019 as ‘mere politics.’.
It remains to be seen how other critical stakeholders would respond to this latest incidence of deterioration in the management of the elections and the spike in the political temperature within the country and region.
Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary
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