The self-proclaimed President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Etienne Tshisekedi, President of the opposition party UDPS has declared that he will form a parallel government next week.
Etienne Tshisekedi, who officially lost the controversial November 28, 2011 elections (see here) to the incumbent President Joseph Kabila, declared himself President and was sworn in in his backyard on December 24, 2011, after the Congolese police blocked his residence and stopped him from reaching a soccer stadium.
The publication of the results on December 9, 2011 by the Electoral Commission recognized Joseph Kabila as the winner and the results have since been validated by the Supreme Court.
Since then, Etienne Tshisekedi’s closest aides, especially his UDPS party’s Secretary General Jacquemin Shabani has been saying that he has been under house arrest within his main residence cordoned off by Joseph Kabila’s presidential guard wearing police uniforms.
The house arrest story was rejected by the Congolese government and some people close to Etienne Tshisekedi. Recently, UDPS wrote to the UN Secretary General and the UN Security council complaining that the UN mission in the DRC, MONUSCO has sided with Joseph Kabila (See our article).
The elections were widely rejected or criticized by international observers and countries, including Carter Center, the United States, and the Council of Catholic Bishops led by the Congolese Cardinal Laurent Monsengo.
Speaking to journalists on Friday January 20, 2011, Etienne Tshisekedi said that he is “obliged to form a government out of necessity and urgency and will govern by decrees until elected institutions are put in place through fair elections.” He added that he will organize local and national elections as soon as he becomes president.
He also expects to conduct “a general census of the population before local, followed by national, elections.”
Repeating his contempt for other opposition leaders, he rejected the proposition of “dialogue or compromise”, put forward by other opposition leaders, especially Vital Kamerhe, Kengo Wa Ndondo and Mbusa Nyamwisi.
Earlier this month, Kengo Wa Ndondo was attacked in Paris allegedly by angry UDPS members who suspected him of being close to Joseph Kabila and seeking the post of Prime Minister, after he attended Joseph Kabila’s swearing ceremony, while at the same time he was rejecting elections.
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