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Faizel Patel – 08/12/2020

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)

Senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Stephanie Wolters says the split between President Félix Tshisekedi and his predecessor Joseph Kabila is no surprise as the coalition between the duo has been going from bad to worse.

Wolters was speaking to Radio Islam on Tuesday during the Africa Report.

President Tshisekedi has ended the 16-month coalition with Kabila further threatening to dissolve the national assembly in case he does not get the parliamentary majority he seeks to take control of the government.

The announcement came after the failure of a coalition with supporters of Kabila who currently wield a majority in parliament.

Tshisekedi took over from Kabila in January 2019, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first peaceful transition since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Wolters says the announcement by Tshisekedi is a big change in the political landscape of the DRC.

“Kabila and his coalition fighting this, arguing that the president has acted above and beyond his powers and has violated the constitution. I think the DRC is in for a rocky two months, potentially leading to a more functional and a representative coalition in that country, but potentially also leading to a protracted political crisis.”

Wolters says Kabila does not have a lot of popular support.

“He really lost most of that in the two years that he failed to hold the election. The election was meant to be held in 2016 and was only held in 2018. Many people consider his government to be a symbol of corruption and paralysis and that there really wasn’t much achieved in the time that he was in office from 2001 until 2018.”

Wolters also shared news updates from Ethiopia regarding the Tigray crisis including Burundi being taken off the United Nations Security Council agenda.

Listen to the Africa Report with Stephanie Wolters.