标签： Africa

In a rare, wide-ranging press conference in Kinshasa this week, Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi has broken his public silence on two of the most contentious issues facing the Central African nation: his political future beyond 2028 and the years-long conflict destabilizing its eastern territories.

Held at State House overlooking the Congo River and drawing more than 200 journalists and supporters, the three-hour briefing marked only Tshisekedi’s second press conference in the capital since he won re-election to a second five-year term in 2023. Addressing long-swirling opposition accusations that he has been plotting to extend his hold on power beyond the country’s constitutionally mandated two-term limit, the president confirmed he would be open to serving a third term – but only if the Congolese people express their support for the change through a national referendum.

“I have not asked for a third term, but I’m telling you – if the people want me to have a third term, I will accept,” Tshisekedi told attendees on Wednesday.

Current Congolese law caps presidential service at two consecutive terms, but a bill outlining procedures for a national referendum was tabled in parliament back in March. While supporters of the legislation frame it as a measure to strengthen democratic processes, critics argue it is a calculated step toward revising the constitutional term limit that would clear the way for Tshisekedi to run again. Opposition groups have already warned that any effort to amend the term limit provision would constitute a “constitutional coup.”

Beyond his political future, Tshisekedi tied the timing of the 2028 presidential election directly to progress ending the ongoing M23 rebel conflict that has displaced millions and seized large swathes of the resource-rich North and South Kivu provinces in eastern DR Congo, including the major regional hubs of Goma and Bukavu. He stressed that free and fair voting cannot be conducted without full state control over the two Kivu regions, meaning the entire election schedule hinges on how quickly the conflict can be resolved.

“If we cannot end this war, unfortunately, we will not be able to hold the elections in 2028,” he said.

For nearly a decade, Congolese government forces have battled M23 and dozens of other armed factions in the eastern part of the country. Multiple independent investigations and international assessments have found overwhelming evidence that neighboring Rwanda provides military and logistical support to the M23 rebel group – a claim Rwanda has repeatedly denied, framing its cross-border military presence as a defensive measure to counter anti-Rwandan armed groups operating from Congolese territory.

Tshisekedi used Wednesday’s briefing to double down on his accusations against Kigali, arguing that Rwanda has dragged its feet on implementing a U.S.-brokered peace deal signed in Washington last December because it profits from the illegal extraction of DR Congo’s rich mineral reserves. “It’s going to take time, because Rwanda has long profited by looting resources, and that’s why the negotiations are dragging on,” he said. Fighting has continued through 2025 despite the ceasefire agreement, and the U.S. imposed sanctions on multiple senior Rwandan military commanders in March this year for their role in fueling the ongoing conflict.

The president also addressed a separate recent development: the U.S. decision to impose sanctions on his predecessor Joseph Kabila, over allegations that Kabila has backed anti-government rebel groups. Describing the situation as “a real mess,” Tshisekedi lamented that figures once celebrated as architects of democratic transition in DR Congo have now become “gravediggers” of that progress.

Tshisekedi’s comments mark the first time he has publicly confirmed his willingness to pursue a third term, ending months of speculation and heightening political tensions across the country as the government continues its struggle to stabilize the volatile east.

In the East African nation of Kenya, political tensions are hitting a fever pitch 12 months out from the 2025 general election, and a new term has come to dominate public discourse: ‘goonism.’ Coined by national leaders to criticize the growing trend of violent, intimidating gangs targeting opposing political groups, the phrase has revealed deep divides between President William Ruto’s administration and the country’s opposition, as the competition for power grows increasingly hostile and dangerous.

Ruto, who first swept into office in a tight 2022 race after campaigning as a devout born-again Christian promising to build a pious, peaceful nation centered on working-class Kenyans, now faces widespread accusations of breaking the values he once championed. Once nicknamed ‘Nabii’ – the Swahili word for prophet – for his public piety, Ruto framed his 2022 campaign as a rebellion against long-standing political dynasties, arguing his rise to power came solely through God’s grace rather than elite privilege. But many of his one-time supporters say a dramatic shift occurred immediately after his inauguration.

While Ruto still attends Sunday church services, critics note he no longer carries a Bible or quotes scripture regularly. Controversial decisions, from demolishing a small chapel on the Statehouse compound to build a newer facility to rolling out aggressive income tax hikes just months after taking office, have reinforced claims of betrayal. The tax proposals sparked mass protests by thousands of young Kenyans across the capital Nairobi that forced partial rollbacks, but failed to ease public anger. Later, additional unrest erupted after a popular blogger died in police custody, and a 2024 protest that saw demonstrators storm the parliamentary building left Ruto’s political standing damaged – and the president increasingly determined to project hardline strength. In a fiery response to anti-government protests where demonstrators carried signs demanding his resignation, Ruto infamously instructed police to ‘break’ protesters’ limbs, drawing widespread condemnation that framed the comment as a veiled threat against political dissent.

Today, both ruling and opposition figures decry goonism, but each side blames the other for the surge in political violence. Opposition leaders claim the gangs that disrupt their rallies and intimidate their supporters are directly state-sponsored. ‘We must say no, collectively, to the new specter, the new norm, of goonism,’ prominent opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka told local media, rejecting government claims that opposition groups are behind the violence. Even ruling party allies have acknowledged the threat the trend poses to Kenya’s democracy: National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula, a close Ruto ally, recently stated that ‘the culture of goonism has no place in a democratic society.’ Interior Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has also pledged to crack down on unauthorized armed gang activity targeting political gatherings.

The violence has already spilled into everyday public life: Last month, opposition Senator Godfrey Osotsi was violently assaulted by a group of men at a western Kenyan restaurant over his political views, leaving him with injuries serious enough to require hospitalization. The attack sparked local protests and drew widespread condemnation from religious leaders across the country.

Religious leaders have emerged as some of the most vocal critics of Ruto’s shift away from his stated Christian values, with one prominent megachurch pastor delivering a viral sermon that implicitly condemned the president’s ties to political violence. ‘Everyone who wants to rule this country by that kind of thing, I speak as a prophet of God: You shall fall,’ megachurch pastor Wilfred Lai, based in the coastal city of Mombasa, told his congregation during a recent Sunday service. ‘You can’t use goons and you are telling us that you are taking us into a better place. You are a liar and the truth is not in you.’ Though Lai never mentioned Ruto by name, the widely shared clip of the sermon left little doubt among Kenyans who he was targeting. Lai was one of multiple evangelical leaders who publicly supported Ruto during his 2022 campaign, making his rebuke all the more significant.

Public anger has been further stoked by a bitter, venomous public feud between Ruto and his former deputy Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached earlier this year after falling out with the president. Gachagua now leads the ‘Wantam’ movement, which is pushing to limit Ruto to a single term. The pair have traded increasingly vulgar insults: In March, Gachagua called Ruto a thief who would ‘steal a funeral home,’ prompting Ruto to label Gachagua a ‘cold-blooded pig’ who stole from his own brother. The public spectacle drew a rare rebuke from Kenya’s top Catholic leadership. ‘Disagreement is OK, but insulting each other in public is a disgrace,’ said Archbishop Maurice Muhatia, head of the local Catholic bishops conference, at a recent gathering. ‘Give us a break.’

Political scholars and analysts warn that if both sides do not de-escalate tensions immediately, the 2025 election could be one of the most violent in Kenya’s modern history. Kenya has a long history of fractious, election-related violence – most notably the deadly 2007 post-election unrest that saw the criminal gang Mungiki play a major role in targeted attacks. Analysts say the current context is far more volatile than past elections, with Ruto’s uncompromising leadership style stoking fears of a shift toward authoritarianism, a break from past Kenyan presidents who were more open to accommodating opposition. ‘Goonism’ is ‘a product of gangster theology’ of which Ruto is the high priest, said Nairobi-based independent writer Christine Mungai, arguing the president has mastered ‘how to perform public piety’ while working ‘to make life harder for everyone.’

Karuti Kanyinga, a Kenyan development scholar and visiting professor at South Africa’s Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, warned that if hostile rhetoric and gang activity continue, the 2025 election will devolve into widespread bloodshed. ‘If Ruto and opposition figures don’t tone down the rhetoric the election is going to be very bloody,’ Kanyinga said, adding that by next year, ‘everyone will have their own protection gangs.’

As the election draws closer, Ruto continues to court influential church leaders, who hold massive social and political sway across Kenyan communities. But with growing numbers of religious leaders turning against him, and opposition groups gaining traction amid widespread public anger, Ruto’s path to a second term remains uncertain. Though his position is precarious, adversaries acknowledge the president remains a cunning, formidable opponent who will be difficult to unseat in next year’s vote.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — In a nationally televised address that has sparked intense political debate across the country, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi delivered a stark warning Wednesday: unless the long-running armed conflict rocking the nation’s eastern provinces is resolved and stability is restored, the country will not be able to hold constitutionally mandated general elections when his second and final term concludes in December 2028.

Tshisekedi’s remarks came amid a devastating escalation of decades of unrest in eastern Congo that began earlier this year. In January 2025, Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched a major offensive, capturing the strategic eastern city of Goma before seizing the key town of Bukavu the following month as the insurgency pushes to expand its territorial control. The renewed fighting has already claimed an estimated 3,000 lives and dramatically deepened one of the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophes, pushing the total number of displaced people across the country to roughly 7 million.

Decades of instability in eastern Congo have long been fueled by competition over control of the region’s vast, lucrative mineral reserves, with more than 100 armed groups currently operating in the area, M23 among the most powerful and well-organized. U.S.-brokered peace negotiations and other diplomatic initiatives to halt the violence have so far failed to gain traction, leaving the conflict deadlocked.

“If we cannot end this war, unfortunately we will not be able to organize elections in 2028,” Tshisekedi stated during the address. The president clarified that the inability to hold the vote would stem from the loss of state control over the two most conflict-affected eastern provinces, not a lack of willingness or resources to administer the poll. “It will not be because I refused to organize them, the resources are there we can do it, but we cannot organize them without North Kivu and South Kivu,” he added.

In a surprise announcement that has reshaped the country’s political landscape ahead of 2028, Tshisekedi also signaled he would be open to seeking a controversial third term in office, a move that would require amending the nation’s constitution, which currently imposes a strict two-term limit on presidents. “I have not sought a third term, but I tell you: If the people want me to have a third term, I will accept,” he said, noting that any change to term limits would need to be approved by a national referendum first.

Opposition figures and political critics immediately rejected the president’s comments, accusing Tshisekedi of using the ongoing eastern conflict as a pretext to extend his hold on power. Congolese opposition politician André Claudel Lubaya argued that Tshisekedi was invoking the will of the Congolese people “to justify a fraudulent intention.” Two-time former presidential candidate Seth Kikuni warned via social media platform X that if Tshisekedi follows through on plans to “threaten to seize power” in 2028, the opposition will have no choice but to take drastic action: “to cross the Rubicon and throw the dice.”

The address also touched on other policy issues, including the ongoing deportation of Congolese migrants from the United States under a bilateral agreement reached with the Trump administration, though Tshisekedi’s comments on elections and the eastern conflict dominated public and political reaction to the speech.

On Wednesday, a high-profile political standoff unfolded in the Central African Republic (CAR) when major opposition figure and former prime minister Anicet Georges Dologuélé publicly condemned the seizure of his diplomatic passport, labeling the move a blatant abuse of executive power by the current administration.

The incident unfolded at Bangui’s international airport, where Dologuélé — who held the prime minister’s office from 1999 to 2001 — was blocked from boarding a flight bound for an African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Speaking to reporters shortly after the denial of departure at a press conference in the CAR capital, Dologuélé revealed that authorities had barred him from exiting the country after branding him stateless within his own homeland.

Dologuélé has served on the board of directors of the African Union Peace Fund since 2018, a position that made his planned attendance at the Addis Ababa meeting a formal professional obligation. The political conflict between Dologuélé and current CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra stretches back to last year’s controversial presidential election, where Dologuélé ran against the incumbent.

To meet CAR constitutional requirements for presidential candidates, which bar dual citizenship, Dologuélé formally renounced his French citizenship in 2023 ahead of the vote. Since the election, he has repeatedly denounced the poll results, claiming the outcome was deeply flawed and “very far from the truth” — a stance that has put him in persistent opposition to Touadéra’s government. Official results from CAR’s electoral commission recorded Dologuélé winning 13.1% of the national vote.

Following the election, the former prime minister had been relying on his diplomatic passport, which he retained as a former head of government. He told reporters on Wednesday that the current administration has repeatedly rejected his requests to issue a new standard national passport, leaving his old diplomatic document as his only valid form of international travel documentation.