Congo's Farcical Presidential Elections (Election présidentielle en RDC = Une farce)

Dear Friends,

The upcoming presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a farce.  That is why ordinary Congolese with limited resources are fighting to take-back their country and fiercely resisting the supreme-arrogant and domineering , Louis Michel,  the EU commissioner responsible for Development and Humanitarian Aid ,  Arthur Forrest of Kinross Forrest Limited (also called the "king of Katanga" ) , the World Bank's complicity  , and Colette Braekman  .

A campaigning journalist for the le soir  newspaper, Colette Braekman spreads lies and disinformation in the West against all those who challenge and resist Louis Michel's imperialist ambitions to legitimize and install an obedient and childish Joseph Kabila as president of the Congo, a nation of 60 millions, and Africa's third largest country.

Dear Friends,  Mr.  Louis Michel is not a diplomat.  He is a diamond Merchant.  Louis Michel is deeply involved (up to here) in the illicit plundering of the richness of R.D. Congo with Mitchy Express, his private company.
   
Whereas Louis Michel tells the world over that he does an humanitarian and philanthropic work  in  the R.D.Congo,  local activists discovered with shock, at the time of his recent voyage to  Congo's Western Kasaï province, that Mr. Louis Michel has a company of exploitation of diamond in the city of Tshikapa and carries out even an unfair competition ( with the complicity of  Kabila regime) to a Congolese entrepreneur by the  name of  Mr. Ntumba, owner of  NTUMINES  company.

Furthermore, M. Louis Michel never contradicted persistent information, which
circulates in the Congolese media. Information according to which, one of his sons would be married to Arthur Forrest's daughter.  Mr. Forrest you remember is mentioned by the the UN agencies and several ONG’s reports  in the plundering of the natural resources of R.D. Congo.

Louis Michel and the the World Bank are involved deep in the carving-up of

Congo

's resources.  A huge chunk (one talks about hundreds of kilometers square of land) of

Katanga

Province

had been secretly awarded to

Arthur

Forest

.  Recently Mr. Forest had threatened to brandish his titles of ownership in front of the inspectors from the UN and African Union.   However, fearful of a popular upheaval/revolt, Mr. Kofi Annan (the UN secretary general) alerted of the situation, took the decision to postpone all the discussions and inspections well after the upcoming presidential elections. Confident of course that Joseph Kabila with whom these dirty deals had been secured will be elected as president to rule by decrees.

It is possible according to Congolese sources that some inhabitants of

Katanga

province would be asked to vacate their ancestral lands to make room for the new owners after Joseph Kabila is elected. The sources to confirm again that, the decision by the illegal Congolese parliament to divide the

Congo

in several non-viable provinces had been a result of the lobbyism of  Arthur Forrest , Louis Michel and some foreign shadowy businesspersons that exploit the

Congo

.  Almost 70 Kilometer squares of lands between the towns of Mweka, Luebo, Njoko, Punda and Tshikapa in

Western Kasai

province now belongs to companies as well as individuals via no-bid contracts. Moreover, according to the same sources, they (companies and individuals) can construct private airstrip to enter their equipments or to get their wealth out without customs control.

That is why Louis Michel  is interfering with the political process in the

Congo

. That is why he was pushing for a sham constitutional referendum in December 2005.  That is why he has excluded millions of Congolese, from the electoral process in order to increase a likelihood of a Joseph Kabila victory.  That is why he has tricked with breathtaking ease, the European Union to approve a plan to deploy 1, 250 troops to the DRC. Where is the international community’s outrage? Why the silence?

The question that everyone in the

Congo

is asking is in which conditions are their respective provinces, while

Katanga

is being carve-up by  Louis Michel  with the help of   the World Bank .

Louis Michel is not an honest broker in the Congolese crisis. He is misleading  Wallonia (French-Belgium), the  Belgian people , the European Union and the International Community by claiming to organize credible elections in R.D.Congo without  80% of the population and credible Congolese opposition parties.  Blinded with self-confidence, deterred from no one, he is using his position at the EU, the European Union's credibility and money as tools to intimidate and to blackmail Congolese recalcitrant in order to advance a dangerous personal agenda in the

Congo

. He is playing with fire; even the mighty can one-day stumble. Congolese will fight-on, election or no election.

Louis Michel 's meddling in the Congo  has inadvertly split the country down the middle in two, with the Western half of the country composed of  Kinshasa, Kasai provinces, Bas Congo, Equateur, Province Orientale , Bandundu and Southern Katanga .  A Grand-coalition of all those who aim to restore Old-Congo and expel Joseph Kabila back to Tanzania from where he came from; and all those offended by Kabila's Crimes , dubious background, ignorance of the country, unfitness for the presidency and incompetence. He has become a daily embarrassment to an entire nation. A total failure, in all areas in spite of the support from Louis Michel, the international community as well as the IMF, and the World Bank.

Meanwhile, the second half of the country or Eastern Congo (Kabila's fief ?) mainly comprises of Kivu-Maniema and

Northern Katanga

.  This region provided the margin of victory in the 2005 constitutional referendum farce.  Sadly, the electorate of Kivu in particular had been told that a Yes vote on the referendum was a vote against the “Tutsi-isation “of the province, a virulent xenophobic call to exclude Congolese Tutsi from the country. In much of the Kivu province, the upcoming presidential election will not be a vote for meaningful changes to the country. Rather, it will be a vote against ethnic Tutsis and for the preservation of Joseph Kabila’s Kivu and North Katanga –dominated government in

Kinshasa

. Virtually all of Kabila’s top advisers, key officials and ministers (including Apollinaire Malu Malu, the independent election commission president) hail from Kivu and or

North Katanga

provinces.  They have arbitrarily imposed Swahili  as the “lingua franca” in the corridors of power in

Kinshasa

; an attempt to alter the regnal-era and preponderance in public life of Lingala and Kongo  cultures in

Kinshasa

.

Thank God, some Belgians are starting to reproach Louis Michel  for speaking and acting in their name. It is the case of Mr. Werner Steurbaut, a Belgian entrepreneur of Flemish background and resident of the city of

Antwerp

in

Belgium

.  During an  Apr 27, 2006  interview  with  Mr. Amba Wetshi a Congolese investigative reporter for www.congoindependant.com ,  the man wanted to remind the Congolese, as well as the international community  that the Belgium of Louis Michel, of  Arthur Forrest and Colette Braekman  is not his.  And that

Belgium

is a federal State composed of three entities: Flanders, the Area of

Brussels

-the Capital and

Wallonia

.  And thus " when  the Congolese articulate criticisms against Belgium, I wonder well which part of the country it is in question ", said the Belgian.

Werner Steurbaut fustigates the "paternalist attitude" that certain Belgian French-speaking political circles, mighty individuals and the media post with regard to the R.D. Congo. For many like him, Congo-Kinshasa does not need interference from Louis Michel and shady businesspersons. She needs proper structures and genuine partners from all nations. Amen!

Thank you for your support,

Congolese activists & OldCongoFoundation,  Kinshasa, DRC.

Further Information:

kabiladoitpartir.com

www.congoindependant.com

www.congovision.com

www.congoone.net

Joseph Kabila was a Taxi Driver in Tanzania reveals Britain’s Daily telegraph

Joseph Kabila's crimes in pictures

World Bank Buries Internal Report on Controversial Mining Project.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 /

U.S.

Newswire/ --

The World Bank Group has withheld a report concerning its assessment of a controversial mining project in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After activists sounded alarm bells about a massacre carried out by Congolese Armed Forces near the mine and the alleged logistical support provided by the Bank Group's client, Anvil Mining, Bank President Paul Wolfowitz called for an internal investigation. In July 2005, the Bank's Compliance Advisor
Ombudsman (CAO) initiated a review of the WBG's due diligence for its political risk guarantee to Anvil Mining.

Although the CAO submitted the final review to President Wolfowitz in October 2005, and its findings have been shared with Anvil, the report has not been released
to the public. Groups are calling for the immediate release of the CAO report and a public discussion of actions taken on the basis of the report's findings.

In October 2004, one month after the World Bank Group's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) approved a guarantee for Anvil's Dikulushi copper-silver mine, the Congolese army violently suppressed a small- scale rebel uprising in the nearby town of

Kilwa

, reportedly
killing as many as 100 people. According to the United Nations, Anvil allegedly provided logistical support to the
Congolese army, including air and land transport.

Civil society organizations questioned how closely MIGA examined the security situation in the DRC and how it assured itself that its client's operations would not exacerbate conflict and human rights violations
in the region. The DRC's abundant mineral resources have fueled conflict in the country since the late 1990s, and while fighting has subsided since 2001, violence has intensified recently in the

Katanga

Province

where the Dikulushi mine is located.

Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID), a UK-based NGO working with Congolese groups to track corporate abuses in DRC's mining sector, has urged President Wolfowitz to follow the Bank's own procedures and make the report public immediately. RAID's appeals have gone unanswered.

The Australian Federal Police are investigating Anvil's alleged complicity in crimes against humanity and the Australian law firm,Slater & Gordon, which represents many of the Kilwa victims and their families, is seeking damages against the Perth-based, TSX- and ASX-listed mining company.

The World Bank Group has attracted significant media attention in recent weeks over its decision to suspend lending to

Chad

, after the government gutted the oil revenue management law that was the centerpiece of the Bank's support for petroleum development in the country.

The

Chad

case and problems around other recent extractive
industry projects supported by the Bank Group have fueled criticism of the institution's support for oil, gas and mining, particularly in countries with poor human rights records.

--

Background:

The World Bank resumed its lending to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2001, after a nearly ten-year hiatus, and has since committed almost $2 billion in loans and grants. It has played a key role in supporting reform of the mining and forestry sectors in an effort to
increase private investment in the country's natural resources.

Following the Bank-supported revision of the mineral code, the private sector lending arms of the World Bank Group (the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) provided financing and guarantees to mining companies operating in southeastern
DRC.

Further information:

UN troops hold key to fragile peace in

Congo

's election
By David Blair in Goma (Filed: 04/05/2006)

Eight words on a battered billboard sum up the hopes of millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"A democratic election, free, transparent and in peace," reads the blue poster displayed in Goma, the main city in the anarchic east.

With this motto,

Congo

's electoral commission aims to stage one of the most ambitious polls in history. Its monumental task is to organise presidential and parliamentary elections in a nation the size of western Europe, covered by the world's second-largest rainforest and riven by years of civil war.

Congo

is devoid of almost everything that holds a country together. There are scarcely any passable roads or functioning landline telephones. Most of it falls beyond the control of the government in the caital,

Kinshasa

.

The first contested elections since independence in 1960 are due on July 30. Joseph Kabila, a former taxi driver who inherited the presidency when his father, Laurent, was assassinated in 2001, will be challenged by 32 hopefuls but is expected to win.

Some 9,587 candidates have applied to stand for 500 seats in the senate and national assembly.

The stakes could scarcely be higher. One survey says that 3.9 million people have died in the civil war. Only a legitimate, elected government can rebuild the country and restore genuine peace.

Moreover, millions of Congolese are demanding the right to vote. The United Nations mission in

Congo

, known as Monuc, was taken aback by the response when voter registration began.

Last September only 12 million names appeared on the electoral roll; now there are more than 25 million.

"There is no doubt about the popular sentiment behind these elections," said Ulli Mwambulukutu, the head of the Monuc office in

North Kivu

province.

"Our job is to create a secure environment so that the elections can be held successfully."

But thousands of militiamen still prey on civilians as 17,000 peacekeepers, the world's largest UN force, strive to prevent a return to full-scale conflict.

Every Congolese voter is registered in a given constituency. Anyone who moves to another area loses his or her vote and already armed groups are forcing people from their homes to prevent them from voting.

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