DRC: The return of the death penalty, the announced drift of a regime and a president in dire straits
The Democratic Republic of Congo has therefore decided to lift the moratorium on the death penalty decreed in 2003.
The suspension of this moratorium, an act of major significance, was decided by the Council of Ministers while the government has resigned. The decision therefore appears to be dictated by the head of state, Félix Tshisekedi, who has just extended his mandate at the head of the country at the end of an electoral process that was as surreal as it was not very credible. The same head of state had nevertheless explained himself, a few weeks ago, that his country's justice system was sick.
DRC: “The parallel with the end of Mobutu is quite remarkable”
This Monday, the European Union deplored the lifting of this moratorium, recalling “its firm opposition to the death penalty, at any time and in all circumstances”. Belgium, so quick to congratulate Félix Tshisekedi on his second mandate on January 9, this time showed itself to be much less “motivated” to react. However, in their congratulatory message, our Foreign Affairs explained: “Belgium wishes to encourage the president to (…) continue efforts in terms of good governance and human rights, whether it concerns gender equality, fight against corruption, reform of the security sector and justice”. The message from our highest officials, although so happy to pose in the company of the Congolese head of state during his visit to Brussels at the end of last February, a few days before the lifting of the moratorium, was clearly not heard.
On the domestic scene, by this measure, Félix Tshisekedi is trying to deploy a dangerous smokescreen.
Incapable of stopping the advance of the M23 rebels despite the mobilization of Congolese “volunteers”, armies and foreign mercenaries, incapable of keeping its commitment to strike Kigali at the slightest skirmish, soon forced to sit at the negotiating table with his worst enemy, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Tshisekedi plays one of his last cards which opens the way to all excesses. The DRC is falling back into a barbaric dictatorship.
