Background
Two successive wars, one beginning in 1996 and another in 1998, left Congo devastated, with more than 3.5 million persons dead. In July 2003, after five years of combat, parties to the second war signed an agreement that shared out posts in a transitional government and called for a new constitution and nationwide elections within the relatively brief period of two years.1
From the beginning the transitional government was plagued by mistrust among its component parties—represented by a president and four vice-presidents—and by corruption. Apparently in no hurry to carry out elections, political leaders dawdled in passing the laws needed to begin the electoral process. Troops of the former belligerents were supposed to be integrated into a new national army, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo, FARDC), but by late 2005 fewer than one fifth of the estimated total number of soldiers had completed the process.
With integration of the army making slow progress, soldiers of the former Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie-Goma, RCD-Goma)—themselves supposedly part of the FARDC—fought against FARDC troops in May and December 2004. Other FARDC soldiers continued combat with armed groups still resisting national control in north-eastern Ituri district and in the southern province of Katanga. Faced with these political and logistical obstacles, the transitional government postponed elections scheduled for June 30, 2005 to early 2006, and decided to hold a referendum on the new constitution in November 2005, later postponed to December 2005. According to the agreement governing the transition, elections must be completed by June 30, 2006, with no provision made for what would happen if that deadline were not met.
The proposed constitution, passed by the council of ministers and the parliament in May 2005, represents an important change in the organization of the Congolese state. If accepted by popular vote, the new constitution will decrease the power of the president. It will also provide for a more federal structure, with new powers devolving to the provinces, which will increase in number from eleven to twenty-six. Despite last minute efforts by MONUC, civil society and some members of parliament, few Congolese citizens have been provided with information about the new constitution and they have had little opportunity to debate its content.
With the dates for the December 18 and 19 referendum approaching, preparations for the vote lag far behind schedule. As if preparing excuses ahead of time, members of the government and diplomats in Kinshasa repeatedly cautioned Human Rights Watch researchers that “elections will not be perfect.”2
[1] Known as the Global and All-Inclusive Agreement, it was signed in South Africa in 2002. [2] Human Rights Watch researchers heard this refrain in more than ten interviews in Kinshasa between September 28 and October 3, 2005.
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