A coalition of 173 citizens’ movements and human rights groups from across the Democratic Republic of Congo today presented their road map to overcome the country’s political crisis and called on President Joseph Kabila to leave office at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit on December 19.

This path forward, they said, was most in line with the Congolese Constitution and the most likely to prevent further violence and instability in the coming weeks and months.

A civil society coalition from the Democratic Republic of Congo presents their road map to overcome the country’s political crisis at a press conference in the capital, Kinshasa, on October 21, 2016. © Private

The civil society members said that security and other guarantees should then be granted to Kabila and those close to him, in accordance with international treaties, the constitution, and national laws. The president of the senate would then act as interim president, in accordance with articles 75 and 76 of the Congolese Constitution.

The groups, which include the pro-democracy youth movements Filimbi and LUCHA, the human rights organization Association Congolaise pour l’Accès à la Justice (ACAJ), and the coalition led by Dr. Denis Mukwege known as Chemin de la Paix, also called for the creation of an inclusive forum that would seek a consensus regarding a new electoral calendar, with presidential and legislative elections to be held before the end of 2017. Elections were originally scheduled for this November. The forum would also determine the re-organization of the national electoral commission and how the period preceding presidential and legislative elections would be managed.

The coalition called on Congolese political actors and religious leaders, the United Nations Security Council, and regional and sub-regional leaders in Africa to support this path forward to prevent Congo from “moving dangerously towards anarchy and chaos” and “to save the [Congolese] constitution.”

The road map is a response to the “national dialogue” agreement concluded on Tuesday, which called for Kabila to stay in office beyond his term limit and which was rejected by most major Congolese opposition parties and many others.

Just hours before today’s conference, security forces arrested a dozen activists from the pro-democracy youth movement LUCHA as they were protesting Tuesday’s agreement in front of the African Union office in Kinshasa. They were released this evening.

In a statement released earlier today, the Catholic Church’s National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) also urged politicians to renegotiate the national dialogue’s conclusions and ensure a presidential election is held in 2017. “It is imperative that it be clearly mentioned in the consensus...that the current president of the republic not stand for a third term,” the statement said. The bishops also rejected the ruling by the Constitutional Court earlier this week to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) to delay the call for elections, which went forward despite an apparent breach of the court’s own quorum rules.

Regional leaders and special envoys for the Great Lakes region will be meeting next week in Luanda, Angola to discuss the crisis in Congo. Let’s hope their discussions will help pave the way for a solution that prevents more violence, repression, and instability in the coming weeks and months.