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<p>On Wednesday the 17th of July, the World Health Organisation&#8217;s Emergency Committee declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo a &#8220;Public health emergency of international concern&#8221;. Niniola Soleye, Managing Director of DRASA Health Trust joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


WHO declares DRC Ebola outbreak global health emergency

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<p>Dominique Migisha, Special advisor in charge of digital to the Presidency of the Democratic Republic of Congo says financial Inclusion is a serious challenge in the country as only 5 million of the 85 million persons are banked. He discussed this and more with CNBC Africa’s Christy Cole on the side-lines of First Bank of Nigeria&#8217;s joint seminar for financial and telecom regulators in Sub-Saharan Africa.</p>


Improving Financial Inclusion in DRC

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<p>Rwanda and Ugandan leaders over the weekend met in the Angolan capital, Luanda as the host country and the Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s leaders tried to mediate between the two East African Community neighbours. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda met at a Regional Security Summit recently hosted by Angolan President Joao Manuel Lourenco and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leader Felix Tshisekedi. Researcher and analyst, Dr. Frederick Golooba-Mutebi joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


DRC, Angola to meditate Uganda-Rwanda dialogue

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<p>The Democratic Republic of the Congo has for a long time not been on the radar for potential investors. From the totalitarian regime of Mobutu, hyperinflation in the early 90s and no viable stock market However, private equity groups seem interested as Glencore and Kenya’s Equity Bank are sustaining their operations in the DRC. Charles Robertson, Global Chief Economist at Renaissance Capital joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Why Renaissance Capital is all in on the DRC

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<p>South African cement maker, PPC reported its full year numbers which shows revenues in Zimbabwe dropped by 20 per cent to R1.4 billion. The cement producer also has invested over R300 million into the Zimbabwean economy. CNBC Africa’s Fifi Peters spoke to Tryphosa Ramano, Chief Financial Officer at PPC and asked how confident PPC is in getting that money back.</p>


Why PPC is bullish about Zim, DRC but worried about SA

<span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/reuben-loffman-344578">Reuben Loffman</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/queen-mary-university-of-london-1745">Queen Mary University of London</a></em></span>

<p>Sylvestre Ilunga Ilukamba is the <a href="https://www.jeuneafrique.com/mag/779729/politique/rdc-discret-et-consensuel-sylvestre-ilunga-ilunkamba-descend-dans-larene/">new prime minister</a> of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He’s <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190520-dr-congos-tshisekedi-names-new-prime-minister">an old-timer</a> who has worked for former presidents Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent Kabila, and his son Joseph Kabila. He now joins President Felix Tshisekedi’s freshly minted administration. </p>

<p>At the time of Ilunga’s appointment the DRC had been without a premier for more than four months. This was not ideal given the importance of the position. Congolese premiers must <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/dr-congo-ruling-coalition-wins-legislative-majority/a-47057940">countersign presidential orders</a>. Without a prime minister, the president can struggle to exercise full control over the government. </p>

<p>It’s therefore no surprise that without a prime minister for the first four months of his presidency Tshisekedi has not been able to set out a clear legislative agenda. </p>

<p>The appointment confirms fears that former president Joseph Kabila <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/05/03/kabila-meets-new-drc-governors-rallies-support-for-tshisekedi-alliance//">still wields a lot of power</a> over the Congolese government. Ilunga is one of his <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/Felix-Tshisekedi-names--ally-of-joseph-kabila-as-prime-minister/4552902-5131058-hwccdlz/index.html">close confidants</a>.  </p>

<p>This might be overblown given that Tshisekedi had no real choice about appointing a Kabila ally. The DRC Constitution requires that the prime minister comes from the largest party in the National Assembly. That party is Kabila’s Peoples’ Party for Reconciliation and Democracy.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that Ilunga will face dealing with conflicts between party and president. Kabila’s Peoples’ Party for Reconciliation and Democracy and Tshisekedi’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress are bound to clash from time to time and Ilunga is likely to get caught in the cross-fire. In that position, he will have to choose whether to advance the president’s agenda or to frustrate it. If he chooses to frustrate, Tshisekedi’s time at the helm will be rocky.</p>

<p>Tshisekedi will also have to work with a National Assembly that is dominated by an <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/03/16/drc-ruling-party-fails-to-get-senate-seat-kabila-coalition-dominates/">opposing coalition</a>. This means that he will not be able to pass laws without the approval of the Kabila led Common Front for Congo. </p>

<p>Away from the parliament, Kabila is yet to <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/05/25/congos-new-president-felix-tshisekedi-does-not-call-the-shots">move out</a> of the presidential palace. Meanwhile, Tshisekedi is often met with indifference around the country. He will have to work hard to dislodge the status quo. </p>

<p>Ilunga’s appointment, however, could dent his efforts to prove that he is the man in charge. The new prime minister’s experience and expertise — he was once head of the Congo’s national rail network (SNCC) and is an economics professor at the University of Kinshasa — could potentially help Tshisedi even if his time at the helm of the SNCC was a failure. Whether or not Ilunga’s experience helps Tshisekedi depends on the choices he elects to make. </p>

<h2>Key challenges to the presidency</h2>

<p>Tshisekedi also needs to set out his agenda. There are a number of challenges he will have to tackle head on. </p>

<p>The first thing he will have to deal with is the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/eastern-drc-tens-thousands-forcibly-displaced-surge-violence">continued violence</a> in north-eastern Congo. During the campaign he promised to reestablish law and order, but he may not be able to do so given the  violence.  </p>

<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/radical-ideas-are-needed-to-break-the-drcs-ebola-outbreak-here-are-some-116681">Ebola outbreak</a> in north-eastern Congo poses another challenge. The disease has already claimed hundreds of lives and efforts to control its spread have been compromised by political instability and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/30/cliches-can-kill-in-congo-grand-nord-north-kivu-tropes-conflict-ebola-response/">attacks</a> on treatment centres. </p>

<p>While Tshisekedi must appear to be in control of the outbreak it is clear that most of the responsibility to manage the disease will <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-05-2019-united-nations-strengthens-ebola-response-in-democratic-republic-of-the-congo">fall to the UN</a>. This means that he will have to work with the world body despite its <a href="https://unu.edu/publications/articles/why-cuts-to-un-troops-in-congo-could-be-good-thing.html">unpopularity among the locals</a>. The UN is unpopular because it has failed to contain the recent spate of killings in northeastern Congo. </p>

<p>He will also have to tackle the DRC’s poverty problem. Poverty is widespread in the DRC despite the country having a great deal of mineral wealth. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43355678">Foreign miners are heavily taxed</a> but this revenue has done little to raise standards of living for ordinary Congolese. Although the World Bank has stated that <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/country/congo-dem-rep">poverty is decreasing</a> in the vast central African country, it is far from alleviated. It’s claimed that <a href="https://borgenproject.org/facts-about-poverty-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/">80% of the DRC’s 77 million people</a> live in extreme poverty.  </p>

<p>The DRC <a href="https://www.publicfinanceinternational.org/news/2018/10/drc-tax-collection-lags-other-africa-nations">collects less taxes</a> than the majority of African nations. This means that Tshisekedi’s administration will remain reliant on donors to support Congo’s impoverished population for years to come.</p>

<p>In addition, Tshikedi will have to come to terms with the looming spectre of former presidential hopeful Martin Fayulu who <a href="https://africanarguments.org/2019/04/16/one-day-congo-will-explode-what-now-drc-congo-martin-fayulu/">still believes he won</a> the presidential election. </p>

<h2>Overcoming obstacles</h2>

<p>Soon after his swearing-in Tshisekedi launched a <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/03/27/tshisekedi-s-shuttle-diplomacy-heads-to-us-after-visits-to-6-african-nations/">charm offensive</a> to woo world leaders. His aim was to create multilateral partnerships to reinforce his grip on power. He met with several African heads of state including those of the Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Angola and Namibia.</p>

<p>His most critical meeting was with <a href="https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/democratic-republic-of-the-congo/events/article/visit-by-jean-yves-le-drian-to-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-and-chad-20-21">French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Driani</a>. The two men agreed to strengthen bilateral ties between France and the DRC. France agreed to train high-ranking officers in the Congolese army. Military strength is clearly a priority for the new president.</p>

<p>The economy must be too. Tshisekedi must send a clear message that the country is stable and open for business despite <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/01/15/drc-election-hub-top-opposition-candidate-calls-for-debate/">initial questions</a> around the conduct of the presidential election. </p>

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    <strong>
      Read more:
      <a href="http://theconversation.com/tshisekedis-victory-in-the-drc-is-historic-but-controversial-109673">Tshisekedi’s victory in the DRC is historic &#8212; but controversial</a>
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<p>Despite his shaky start, Tshisekedi has parts of Africa, France and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/01/how-washington-got-on-board-with-congos-rigged-election-drc-tshisekedi-kabila-great-lakes/">the US</a> on his side. It remains to be seen whether these allies will give him enough support to survive his first term in office.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118247/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" /></p>

<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/reuben-loffman-344578">Reuben Loffman</a>, Lecturer in African History, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/queen-mary-university-of-london-1745">Queen Mary University of London</a></em></span></p>

<p>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/drcs-new-president-faces-fresh-challenges-with-old-guard-premier-118247">original article</a>.</p>

The key challenges that DRC’s new president faces

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<p>Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo has named Sylvestre Ilunga Ilukamba, the head of the country&#8217;s railways as the next Prime Minister, a move that comes nearly four months after his inauguration.  Soraya Aziz Souleyman, Business and Human Rights Defender joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


DRC: What’s being done to turnaround the economy?

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<p>Access to books and other learning materials remains a big hurdle to provision of quality education in Africa. Schoolap is a platform that is helping improve quality of education by easing access to content in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Co-founder, Pascal Kanik spoke to CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Platform seeks to streamline education in DRC

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<p>The recent high risk security incidents that have occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe have seen the government temporarily shutting down the internet. Social media and cell phone reception had not been working during a critical time of political and economic turmoil in each of these countries. CNBC Africa is joined by Michael Power, Director of ALT Advisory for more on the legality of internet shut downs.</p>


Internet shutdowns violate human rights, says ALT Advisory’s Michael Power

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<p>The African Union is expected to host a special high-level consultation meeting and government on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo whose recent political climate could cast a dark cloud over the country’s economy. CNBC Africa spoke to some Congolese citizens living in Rwanda and here are their views on what the situation in their country.</p>


DRC vote dispute: Congolese living in Rwanda speak out

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<p>Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi has been declared winner of the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Tschisekedi has vowed to be the president of all Congolese. Meanwhile, rival candidate Martin Fayulu has dismissed the results as “electoral coup”. For a discussion on the results of the contested elections CNBC Africa is joined by Soraya Aziz Souleymane, Development Expert and Mike Itongwa, a citizen who’s based in the eastern town of Goma.</p>


Dissecting the impact of DRC’s election results

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<p>Democratic Republic of Congo’s main opposition party leader Felix Tshisekedi, has been declared the surprise winner of the 30th of December 2018 elections. For more CNBC Africa is joined by ClaudeI Balanky Spokesperson for Tshisekedi.</p>


Felix Tshisekedi’s Spokesperson talks about DRC election victory


<p>KINSHASA (Reuters) &#8211; Election monitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said on Wednesday that Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential election “went relatively well” despite chaotic scenes that prevented many from voting.</p>



<p><strong>READ</strong>: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2019/01/02/drc-elections-felix-tshisekedi/">DRC elections: Downpours,no internet drudgery and a fisherman’s find on the way to a Mandela- inspired tomorrow?</a></p>



<p>The SADC’s qualified endorsement countered allegations by opposition candidates that the Dec. 30 vote was marred by widespread irregularities and criticism by a senior U.S. lawmaker that the election was “neither free nor fair”.</p>



<p>Approval of the election’s results by SADC powers like South Africa and Angola will be critical for the legitimacy of the administration of the next president, who will succeed veteran incumbent Joseph Kabila on Jan. 18.</p>



<p>Angola and South Africa have been important allies of Kabila over the years, but relations were strained by his refusal to step down when his mandate officially expired in 2016.</p>



<p>Pre-election polling showed Kabila’s preferred candidate, ex-interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, trailing the main opposition candidates, Martin Fayulu and Felix Tshisekedi, but both sides say they expect to win. Provisional results are expected on Jan. 6, with the final outcome on Jan. 15.</p>



<p>Sunday’s vote is meant to lead to Congo’s first democratic transfer of power in 59 years of independence. But more than a million Congolese in opposition strongholds were prevented from voting due to an Ebola outbreak, local factional conflict and various logistical problems.</p>



<p>“Taking into account the range of challenges posed by these elections, the (mission) observed that the elections &#8230; were relatively well-managed,” the SADC mission said in a statement.</p>



<p>The election allowed “the majority of the Congolese population to exercise its right to vote”.</p>



<p>The statement said that 59 percent of polling places it observed opened on time, vote counting was transparent and police securing the polls behaved professionally.</p>



<p>An African Union observer mission said in a separate statement on Wednesday that election day, which also included votes for national and provincial assembly members, was peaceful yet blighted by a number of logistical problems.</p>



<p>“The holding of these elections constitutes, in itself, a first great victory for the Congolese people,” it said. “The mission strongly wishes that the results that will be declared are true to the vote of the Congolese people.”</p>



<p>Kabila’s government refused to accredit election monitors from the European Union and the U.S.-based Carter Center, which said there were widespread irregularities in the 2011 election.</p>



<p>Contested election results in 2006 and 2011 led to violent street protests, and a disputed outcome this time could also destabilise Congo’s volatile eastern borderlands with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, where dozens of militia groups are active.</p>



<p>Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Edward McAllister and Mark Heinrich</p>


SADC observers endorse DRC’s election – with caveats


<p>By Chris Bishop, head of programming CNBC Africa</p>



<p>The results of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s rare elections are expected this weekend, according to a special adviser to one of the candidates promising a business friendly government and Mandela-style reconciliation for the war torn, yet mineral rich,nation.</p>



<p>It has been a journey of drudgery, downpours, allegations of fraud and protest since the polls opened on December 30 to find a successor to Joseph Kabila. He has stepped down after nearly two decades running the country that his father, Laurent, who died in a mysterious assassination in 2001, took control of in 1997 after overthrowing Mobuto Sese Seko.</p>



<p>Felix Tshisekedi, the son of a former minister who studied in Belgium and set up his own delivery business in Brussels after years working in the Post Office, is fighting it out with former Exxon Mobil manager and opposition lawmaker Martin Fayulu and the man with Kabila’s vote, former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.</p>



<p> </p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RDC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RDC</a><br>Le Président Joseph <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kabila?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Kabila</a> a rempli son devoir civique, en compagnie des siens,  ce dimanche 30 décembre 2018 à Kinshasa. <a href="https://t.co/tMiljzmywD">pic.twitter.com/tMiljzmywD</a></p>— Présidence RDC ?? (@Presidence_RDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/Presidence_RDC/status/1079286376816930816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



<p>“The latest we are leading by between 40 and 45%, in 13 out of 14 provinces. Around 70% of the vote has been counted and we understand all the votes have been captured,” says Claude Ibalanky Ekolomba, the special adviser to Tshisekedi . </p>



<p>“Overall we are excited and extremely confident. We are leading the race at the moment.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2018/12/31/drc-elections-why-the-opposition-is-crying-foul/"><strong>Read: DRC elections: Opposition, ruling coalition both say they’ve won, here’s why</strong></a></h3>



<p>Ibalanky Ekolomba, who is visiting Johannesburg, admits it is difficult to keep contact with the people back in the DRC with the internet shut down by the state for fear it may stir unrest.</p>



<p>“We have ways to get through, it is not always reliable but we do and it is the people on the ground who know what is happening,” he says. He pointed to a case of alleged fraud where a bag of votes for Tshisekedi were found by a fisherman in a river near Lake Kivu who simply picked it up and reported it to the authorities.</p>



<p class="has-background has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color">“You cannot stop 30 million people witnessing their own election and when things are happening we are told.”</p>



<p>Ibalanky Ekolomba says Tshisekedi wants to be a business friendly president, if elected, in search of the foreign direct investment that the DRC desperately needs to reap the rewards of its rich minerals.&nbsp;Tshisekedi did not plan to cancel contracts with foreign companies as had been done before after changes of government.</p>



<p>“If we find a mistake in a contract we will engage and see how we are going to correct it,” he says.</p>



<p>“Some people are fearing we will be hard on business but not at all – we will be open for business.”</p>



<p>Tshisekedi also promises to appoint people to government on merit.</p>



<p>“Fighting corruption and money laundering. There will be no witch hunt among people who were members of the former government, we will be saying let’s build this country together just like Mandela did,” says Ibalanky Ekolomba.&nbsp;</p>


DRC elections: Downpours,no internet drudgery and a fisherman’s find on the way to a Mandela- inspired tomorrow?


<p>KINSHASA (Reuters) &#8211; Long queues, broken-down machines and torrential rain in the capital disrupted voting in Democratic Republic of Congo’s long-anticipated presidential poll on Sunday, as the opposition alleged widespread irregularities.</p>



<p><a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2018/12/28/why-protests-are-erupting-as-drc-elections-loom/">Three opposition strongholds will see no casting of ballots</a> at all after the authorities cancelled the vote there, citing health risks from an ongoing Ebola outbreak and ethnic violence.</p>



<p><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2018/12/28/drcs-best-known-political-cartoonist-making-light-of-grim-realities-shares-his-election-hopes/">DRC’s best known political cartoonist: Making light of grim realities shares his election hopes</a></p>



<p>Some polling places in other opposition bastions in the capital Kinshasa did not open until more than seven hours after the 6 a.m. (0500 GMT) start because voter rolls had not arrived.</p>



<p>Elections are a rare event in Congo, which has been plagued by authoritarian rule, assassinations, coups and civil wars since independence from Belgium in 1960.</p>



<p>If President Joseph Kabila, in power since his father’s assassination in 2001, steps down after the vote it will be the country’s first ever democratic transition.</p>



<p>Kabila voted early in the morning in Kinshasa at the same school as the candidate he is backing, former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, whom the latest opinion polls showed trailing two opposition candidates.</p>



<p>“My only concern is that we have this very heavy rain and probably voter turnout might be low, but hopefully the skies will clear, and the voters will turn out in numbers,” Kabila, wearing a dark blue suit, told reporters.</p>



<p>The Catholic bishops conference (CENCO) said electronic voting machines, criticised by the opposition as vulnerable to fraud, had dysfunctioned in at least 544 of 12,300 polling places it monitored. It also said 846 polling stations were installed in “prohibited places” like military and police posts.</p>



<p>Some voters also complained they could not find their names on the rolls, and flooded streets in Kinshasa prevented others from reaching their polling stations.</p>



<p>SPONSORED STORIESADVERTISING</p>



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<figure><iframe></iframe></figure>



<p>Vital Kamerhe, the campaign director for Felix Tshisekedi, one of the two leading opposition candidates in the race, said he had received reports of fraud in Shadary’s favour.</p>



<p>In the western city of Inongo, Kamerhe said, the head of a polling place was found voting several times for Shadary and three machines there were converting votes for Tshisekedi into votes for Shadary.</p>



<p>Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations, and the national electoral commission (CENI) said in a tweet that in Inongo and several other cities, “voting operations are underway and everything is going well”.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">PROTESTS</h3>



<p>Despite repeated delays to the contest, which was originally meant to take place in 2016, diplomats and poll observers have said authorities are ill-prepared, raising fears of a repeat of the violence that followed elections in 2006 and 2011.</p>



<p>Kabila’s agreement to stick to constitutional term limits should represent progress for the mineral-rich country. But he could continue to exercise influence from the sidelines and has not ruled out running again for president in 2023.</p>



<p>Violent protests erupted this week after authorities announced that voting had been cancelled in the Ebola-hit eastern cities of Beni and Butembo, their surrounding areas and the western city of Yumbi.</p>



<p>Together, they account for more than 1.2 million out of the Central African country’s 40 million voters nationwide and are all considered opposition bastions.</p>



<p>In Beni, dozens of voters lined up on Sunday morning to write their choices on sheets of paper, residents said.</p>



<p>Voting was mostly peaceful across the country, but there were a few violent incidents. In the central city of Kananga, the head of a polling place was beaten up by voters who suspected him of trying to cheat when he moved a broken-down voting machine from the room, two local activists said.</p>



<p>In eastern Congo’s Masisi territory, militia fighters were also reported around polling sites, pressuring people to vote for their preferred candidates, a Western diplomat said.</p>



<p>The most recent poll released by New York University’s Congo Research Group on Friday showed former Exxon Mobil manager and opposition lawmaker Martin Fayulu leading the race on 47 percent, buoyed by discontent with Kabila’s 18-year tenure.</p>



<p>Under Kabila, Congo has seen strong economic growth from surging copper and cobalt output but only meagre improvements to average people’s quality of life.</p>



<p>Another opposition leader, Felix Tshisekedi, trailed in the poll with 24 percent, while Shadary got 19 percent.</p>



<p>“I will vote for Martin Fayulu,” said Mama Wivine, 40 and unemployed, as she waited for the machine to arrive at her polling place in Kinshasa’s Camp Luka neighbourhood. “We hope he can bring jobs and better conditions for us Congolese. We are fed up with the regime of Kabila.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">DUELLING EXPECTATIONS</h3>



<p>After voting in Kinshasa, Fayulu said: “Today, we mark the end of Mr. Kabila, the end of the misery of the Congolese people.”</p>



<p>But Shadary has big institutional advantages, including round-the-clock coverage on state media. Kabila appointees also dominate national institutions.</p>



<p>“I think victory is on my side and that tonight I will be president,” Shadary said after casting his ballot.</p>



<p>The CENI has tried to reassure the opposition about the voting machines by saying that only print-outs from the machines counted by hand will be factored into the official results.</p>



<p>But any disputed outcome could lead to a wider security breakdown across Congo, particularly along its eastern borders with Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, where dozens of armed militia are active.</p>



<p>The last polls close at 5 p.m. (1600 GMT), although voting will continue for those still in line. Voters are also choosing representatives for the national and provincial assemblies.</p>



<p>Reporting by Giulia Paravicini and Fiston Mahamba; Additional reporting by Baz Ratner, Sabiti Djaffar and Juliette Jabkhiro; Writing by Aaron Ross and Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Helen Popper, Christopher Cushing and Raissa Kasolowsky, William Maclean</p>


DRC elections: After three postponements, voting takes place, this is the outcome so far…


<p>KINSHASA, Dec 28 (Reuters) &#8211; Thembo Kashauri has sketched some of the most scathing parodies of Joseph Kabila, yet Congo’s best-known political cartoonist has mixed feelings about the taciturn president’s impending departure after nearly two decades in power.</p>



<p>“He had an atypical personality for a head of state but he inspired a lot of my drawings,” the cartoonist known as Kash said in his cramped studio cluttered with old computer equipment in the capital Kinshasa.</p>



<p>“His silences were so eloquent that the fact he didn’t speak much said a lot,” he said of Kabila, who has governed Democratic Republic of Congo since his father’s assassination in 2001.</p>



<p>After Kabila finally agreed not to defy presidential term limits by standing in Sunday’s election, Kash drew a weeping Joseph with his signature salt-and-pepper beard and thick head of hair being comforted by South Africa’s president.</p>



<p>“Power is life,” sobs Kabila as Cyril Ramaphosa reassures him there is life after the presidency.</p>



<p>The election, which has turned into a race between Kabila’s favoured candidate and two main opposition challengers, could lead to Congo’s first democratic transfer of power after decades marked by armed conflicts.</p>



<p>But the poll, which is already two years late because Kabila refused to go when his mandate expired, has been marred by killings on the campaign trail and opposition outcry after the electoral commission cancelled the vote in several of their strongholds, citing security and health concerns.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘TURN THE PAGE’</h3>



<p>Kash, 53, is well-accustomed to finding ways to make light of Congo’s grim realities, but he hopes the outcome of Sunday’s vote could lighten the dark mood that permeates his sketches.</p>



<p>“If one of the opposition candidates took power, I think &#8230; we could turn the page,” he said.</p>



<p>Kash, who draws for Le Potentiel, an opposition-leaning daily in Kinshasa, and the news site actualite.cd, has found plenty to poke fun at during a topsy-turvy campaign.</p>



<p>After the electoral commission announced last week yet another seven-day delay to the vote, Kash sketched commission president Corneille Nangaa on an A4 sheet of paper in chef’s whites in a smoke-filled kitchen.</p>



<p>While Nangaa stirs a big pot labelled “December 30 cassoulet”, an anxious waitress asks if the food is ready as the diners are on the verge of rioting.</p>



<p>“I’m trying to portray Congolese people’s anxiety about December 30,” Kash told Reuters after filling in an initial pencil sketch with bold strokes of thick black marker.</p>



<p>Kash, who hails from the eastern city of Beni, began his career as a painter but learned to draw cartoons from a Belgian artist and started to sketch for magazines in the 1980s.</p>



<p>At first, he stuck to cartoons about music and culture but he started depicting veteran Congolese autocrat Mobutu Sese Seko in 1990 after his forces massacred dozens of students in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi.</p>



<p>“We couldn’t caricature politics,” he said. “In 1990, I was just about the first to caricature Mobutu.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION</h3>



<p>Often heavy-handed repression of journalists and activists has continued since the Mobutu era through the administrations of Laurent Kabila and his son, Joseph.</p>



<p>But Kash says he rarely faces official pressure to tone down his drawings &#8211; even if his newspaper occasionally won’t run cartoons it deems too provocative.</p>



<p><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/international/2018/12/28/why-protests-are-erupting-as-drc-elections-loom/">Why protests are erupting as DRC elections loom</a></p>



<p>On several occasions, he has drawn Congo as an open-air prison hemmed in by high walls and barbed wire. In 2014, he drew Kabila trying on Mobutu’s trademark leopard-skin hat as the old dictator tells him he’ll be able to hold on to power if he just adds a cane and glasses to his repertoire.</p>



<p>Kash’s ability to mock the rich and powerful in Congo reflects in part a country that has long proved too big and too unruly for any leader to muzzle its famed sense of humour, unlike its more tightly controlled neighbours.</p>



<p>“The freedom of expression we have in Congo is the result of a long struggle. In Brazzaville and Rwanda, you don’t mess around. You’ll get yourself killed,” he said.</p>



<p>Even so, there are few other cartoonists who have his fearless style. “They’re too timid,” said Kash.</p>



<p>Despite his self-avowed fondness for drawing Kabila, Kash said his would-be successors have some potential too.</p>



<p>One of the frontrunners, Felix Tshisekedi, has the same bulk as his father, the late opposition icon Etienne, and sports the same distinctive flat cap. Kash said he also enjoys drawing Kabila’s preferred successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.</p>



<p>“Since he was picked as the heir apparent, I’ve been able to draw him fairly easily because he has quite fine features &#8211; the nose, the body. He’s an interesting subject to draw.” (Reporting by Alessandra Prentice in Kinshasa and Aaron Ross in Dakar; editing by David Clarke)</p>


DRC’s best known political cartoonist: Making light of grim realities shares his election hopes


<p>KINSHASA (Reuters) &#8211; Security forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fired live rounds and teargas on Thursday to disperse demonstrators who burned tires and attacked Ebola centres to protest a decision to exclude them from the presidential election.</p>



<p>The electoral commission (CENI) announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling voting in Sunday’s election in the cities of Beni, Butembo and their surrounding areas due to an ongoing Ebola outbreak and militia violence.</p>



<p>Those places are strongholds of opposition to outgoing President Joseph Kabila and local politicians denounced the move as an effort to swing the vote in favour of his preferred candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.</p>



<p>“There was a group of demonstrators who wanted to enter the CENI office&#8230;to demand the withdrawal of the decision,” said Giscard Yere, a Beni resident. “But the police officers and soldiers who were there fired to disperse the demonstrators.”</p>



<p>Protesters ransacked an Ebola isolation centre in Beni and it is possible that patients fled, Aruna Abedi, the deputy director of the Ebola response, told Reuters.They also attacked the office of the government agency coordinating the response in Beni before U.N. peacekeepers pushed them back, Abedi said.</p>



<p>“Protesters tried to force the door of the centre,” Abedi told Reuters. “They were chanting songs hostile to the government and demanding elections. They threw projectiles.”</p>



<p>Colonel Safari Kazingufu, the police commander in Beni, said his forces had deployed across the city to restore order, including around Ebola treatment centres.</p>



<p>Beni, Butembo and the rural areas around them have been dealing with an Ebola outbreak &#8211; now the second-deadliest in history &#8211; since August. It is believed to have killed more than 350 people so far.</p>



<p>But health authorities had repeatedly said that it would not prevent the vote from going ahead, and locals say the outbreak is being used as a pretext to disenfranchise them.</p>



<p>The CENI also cancelled the vote in the western city of Yumbi because of ethnic violence there last week that killed more than 100 people.</p>



<p>The election to replace Kabila, who has governed since replacing his assassinated father in 2001, was meant to take place in 2016 but has been repeatedly delayed.</p>



<p>That has triggered violent protests in which security forces killed dozens of people. It has also stoked militia violence in Congo’s eastern borderlands with Rwanda and Uganda as armed groups moved to exploit a perceived power vacuum.</p>



<p>Shadary is facing two main challengers in a field of 21 candidates: Felix Tshisekedi, the president of Congo’s largest opposition party, and Martin Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil manager and national lawmaker.</p>



<p>Reporting By Stanis Bujakera; Additional reporting by Fiston Mahamba in Goma; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Angus MacSwan</p>


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