Here are 17 heads of state invited for a historic transfer of power in DRC

Felix Tshisekedi must be officially inaugurated President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this Thursday, January 24.

The investiture ceremony is to start around noon at the Palais de la Nation, in the presence of several African heads of state.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is preparing to live this Thursday its first transmission of peaceful power with the investiture of Felix Tshisekedi who succeeds Joseph Kabila.

The ceremony must begin at 12:30 pm (local time).

Of the 17 heads of state invited, almost all are Africans: Tanzania, Central African Republic, Angola, Burundi and South Sudan for neighboring countries; Egypt, which is soon to take the lead of the African Union; several Southern African countries: Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa; plus Ethiopia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire.

Sorting

“We had opted for a sober ceremony,” says Barnabas Kikaya, diplomatic adviser to Joseph Kabila, who wants to point out that these invited countries have themselves asked to come and ensures that a “sorting” was done.

An “unusual choice for an investiture”, the purpose of which is usually to crown the new president with the “widest possible support”, notes however a diplomatic source, for whom 17 heads of state invited “it is little” for an alternation that we say “historical”.

Zambia was not invited, for example, explains a source to the state protocol. Radio France International (RFI) reported that President Edgar Lungu’s statement calling for a recount of presidential votes was clearly not appreciated.

Another notable absence: Uganda and especially Rwanda, whose President Paul Kagame initiated the call of the African Union which evoked “serious doubts” on the results of the election.

Another neighbor, Congo-Brazzaville, said he should be represented by his foreign minister.

The United States and the countries of the European Union should be represented by their ambassadors in the DRC.

It was the protocol of the outgoing president who managed the invitations.

As for Felix Tshisekedi, “he has not had a say,” provide several sources and in his entourage.

As an observer sees in this protocol the signal that the regal power “will remain in the hands of Joseph Kabila”.

“Civilized” transfer of power

The event is certainly unprecedented: it is the first time, since the country’s independence, that an outgoing head of state passes power to an incoming head of state.

At independence in 1960, power is shared between President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and his Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. The rivalries between the two men quickly plunge the country into chaos. A year later, in 1961, Patrice Lumumba was assassinated. Colonel Joseph Désiré Mobutu plays a key role in this assassination. Having become a general in 1965, Mobutu made a coup d’etat and imposed its rules until renaming the country “Republic of Zaire”.

A little later, Mobutu is in turn overthrown by a certain Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the father of the outgoing president Joseph Kabila. We are in 1997, the country comes to know the First Congo war and is finally renamed DRC.

Laurent Désiré Kabila will be assassinated in 2001 by one of his bodyguards. Ten days later, his son takes over. Joseph Kabila is then 29 years old. He organizes five years later, in 2006, the first free elections in the country since independence. A vote he wins. Five years later, Joseph Kabila is again elected in a presidential election tainted by violence and fraud.

If the victory of Felix Tshisekedi remains disputed, this transfer of power marks a major turning point in the political history of the country. The first “civilized” handover, in the words of the outgoing president.