Whew!

It’s been a hectic six weeks, starting with the mass evacuation of all British and American citizens (which is only now being ended); the election being postponed and eventually held in what can only be described as rickety form; the announcement of results that everyone knew were cooked, and finally the acceptance that it was better to accept cooked results than start fighting again.

Because although the Catholic church had monitored the ballot carefully and made a public statement to the effect that their results were very different from the so-called official ones, and a whistle-blower had leaked results from the electoral commission that substantiated their claim, it was still remarkable that there would be a peaceful transfer of power to an opposition party. Rumours of a back-door deal between the outgoing and incoming presidents to protect the interests of the previously ruling party were not enough to spoil the feeling: we’ve made it! We’ve got a new government without a coup!

As inauguration day approached worries about the ability of the new President to govern were pushed away, and a massive sense of relief swept through Kinshasa. Think of all the bad things of the last decade – maybe they’ll end. Particularly the vicious oppression of all dissent. And, sure enough, one of the few promises made in the inauguration speech was that all political prisoners would be released.

On the day after the inauguration the previously half empty streets of Kinshasa were suddenly full again. It’s not normal to welcome traffic jams, but they were a small price to pay for a return to normalcy. Car parking around our favourite lunch-spot was totally full. Everywhere, people were celebrating. Overnight it had become bad form to criticize the result: instead one should celebrate what is, without doubt, real change. As if to underline this, another rumour spread like wildfire: “The police have stopped demanding bribes”