Kinshasa Kerfuffles

Well, the Francophonie summit is over. The streets of Kinshasa are cleaner than ever before, and our week-end route to the Lac de ma Valée can now be taken at a healthy 40km an hour, as opposed to the previous 20km/hour because they’ve smoothed out the road and filled in the potholes, obviously because some dignitaries wanted to see the Bonobo Sanctuary which is reached from the same road.

And what has the fall-out been? There was a major frisson in Kinshasa when Francois Hollande, speaking in Dakar before arriving in Kinshasa, said he would use his visit to criticise the DRC government and President Kabila for their lack of respect for democracy and human rights.

Hollande had said that he was coming to the Congo to give a lecture, and not as a guest of the President, and certainly not to endorse his presidency. To make that clear, not only did he disclose the nature of his private meeting with Kabila – to tell him that unless he improved his record in human rights and democracy, he might loose support from France – but he did not even join in the applause at the end of Kabila’s opening speech at the Conference.

Hollande’s own speech to the conference was predictable, but it was nevertheless received with shocked oohs and aaahs by the Congolese in the audience. He didn’t miss a beat, and made no excuses: after all, is not the whole concept of democracy a product of the French Revolution and therefore synonymous with the language itself?

To rub salt in Kabila’s wound, later on the same day he had a high profile meeting with the leader of the opposition, Tshisekedi. In total contrast to the stand-offish coldness of his interaction with Kabila, this one was all smiles and hugs.

From what we hear even the hardened Tshisekedi was somewhat embarrassed by this attention. When he was asked whether it had given his role in the Congo the legitimacy that he so much craves he sensibly replied, “only the people of the Congo can do that.”

Long used to the mealy mouthed and hypocritical utterances of the donor community and the UN, most people in the expatriate community were saying Hurrah for Hollande! At last someone is saying it how it is. Imagine our surprise when the Congolese staff of the donors and NGOs working to improve the very same matters came out in total opposition to Hollande. Who does he think he is? He doesn’t even know the country, and only stayed for twelve hours. What right has he to be rude to our head of state? This is typical colonialist behaviour. Etc etc.

So, in the curious way of politics, Hollande has strengthened Kabila’s position. Maybe that shows that he’s got a lot to learn. Or maybe that he doesn’t care: it’s the electorate in France that he was talking to, not the Democratic Republic of the Congo.