DR Congo Bans Planned Anti-Kabila March By Catholics, Internet, SMS Access Cut

A planned demonstration against Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila organised by Catholics has been banned a day before it was to take place in the capital, Kinshasa’s governor has said.

“The city does not have sufficient numbers of police officers to supervise this march,” Governor Andre Kimbuta said. “Therefore, I do not recognise the authorisation requested.”

About 150 Catholic churches had planned to protest in Kinshasa to call on the country to implement a compromise deal signed a year ago aimed at bringing about President Joseph Kabila’s belated departure and restore stability in the crisis-hit country.

In a letter to the governor, a secular coordinating committee said the agreement signed last New Year’s Eve is “the only viable road map” to achieve credible elections in DRC.

In power since 2001 when he took over from his assassinated father Laurent Kabila, Kabila refused to step down at the end of his second and final term in office in December 2016.

He is banned by the constitution from running for a third term, but under the deal with the opposition can remain in office until the next elections, which had been due to take place by the end of 2017.

But the date has since been pushed back until December 23, 2018, further heightening tensions.

A protest campaign led by the country’s opposition has been met with a police crackdown that has led to fatalities and arrests.

Meanwhile, authoritarian leaders are fond of severing communications in a bid to hold on to power, and that tradition sadly isn’t going away.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has ordered telecoms to cut internet and SMS access ahead of planned mass protests against President Joseph Kabila, whose administration has continuously delayed elections to replace him. Telecom minister Emery Okundji told Reuters that it was a response to “violence that is being prepared,” but people aren’t buying that argument. Officials had already banned demonstrations, and the country has history of cutting communications and blocking social network access in a bid to quash dissent.

Historically, these attempts at disrupting communication have had mixed results. Kabila used a communications cut in 2015 with some success, but attempts in Egypt and elsewhere have failed — if just because service eventually has to come back. And the Congo protests this time around promise to be particularly strong, with a normally divided opposition rallying together. An attempt to sever internet and SMS access may make it difficult to coordinate, but a sufficiently angry public will still find a way to make its voice heard.