Congo Chronicle XI

october 27 - november 9, 1997

Sources: Le Soir. NCN. Infoseek Newsline, Africa News Online

Constitutional Commission

On october 22 Kabila signed a law for establishing a Constitutional Commission. The task of this commission is to elaborate a concept constitution. The commission consists of 4 organs: the board, the plenum (plenary assembly), the subcommissions and the secretariat. The board that directs the commission, has an executive committee of 3 persons. For these functions some old combattants from the Lumumba period have been appointed: Anaclet Kashamura as president, Delphin Banza Hangankolwa as first vice-president and Paul Bolya as second vice- president. Further the board contains four rapporteurs and secretaries. The subcommissions consist of 36 members, who have the task to work out the articles of the constitution. The plenary assembly consists of all members of the Constitutional Commission; it deliberates together about the results and proceedings.

The Commission, that has officially been installed on november 5, will present the concept constitution on the first of March 1998. Next a Constitutional Assembly, that will be formed after that, will declare itself about it; finally a referendum on the definitive text will be held in fall of 1998. In april 1999 elections for a parliament and for the presidency are to be held.

UN

On october 28, the Congolese ambassador Andre Kapanga has talked to the Assembly of the Second Commitee of the United Nations (Economic and Financial Affairs). He stressed that peace, freedom and stability are indispensable for the development of his country. For more than 30 years Congo has been subjected to the destruction of its resources and to serious mismanagement. The national economy has been destroyed and the country has been tarnished. Now Congo is in a period of transition. The government is trying to get the democratisation proces going and to redress the economy. Kapanga asked the international community for support in shape of partnership. His government will follow a new policy that is focussed on own efforts and regional cooperation with the countries of Southern Africa. Apart of that Congo wants to keep bilateral relations with all countries and organisations in the world who support national reconstruction.

On november 4, Ms. Ogata, the UN High Commissioner of the Refugees, outlined the worldwide problems of the refugee issue to the Third Committee of the UN. She talked a.o. about the failures of the international community to resolve the conflicts of the Region of the Great Lakes. According to her the heart of the matter was that one has not been capable to separate the real refugees from the others and to prevent that they threatened the security of the refugees and the local population. Ms. Ogata recongnized that some 'refugees' were not only victims, but also caused insecurity and problems. She further pointed to the restrictive trends in the asylum policy of the industrialized countries, who in her view show a to limited interpretation of the definition of refugee.
Mr. Kapanga commented the speech of Ms. Ogata by saying a.o. that Kinshasa has received half a million refugees from Congo- Brazzaville and he asked why the High Commissioner didn't mention this.

Congo-Brazzaville

The river border between Kinshasa and Brazzaville was reopened on october 29. On this occasion, the deputy interior minister Faustin Munene, said that Kinshasa must remain vigilant for infiltrants who possibly cross the river.With this remark he indicated the part of the ex-DSP military and the mobutists who after the collapse of the Mobutu regime fled to Brazzaville; while most of them are armed.
The contacts between Kabila and the new president of Congo- Brazzaville seem to be restored. During the mini-top in Luanda (the capital of Angola) on october 27, the four leaders of the neighbouring countries: Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Angola and Gabon, were on speaking terms.They agreed to respect each others territory and to sustain each other in the economic reconstruction.

USA

On november 5, Bill Richardson, the US Ambassador to the UN, adressed members of the House about his recent journey to Central Africa.He argued in favour of a cautious engagement with Congo. Richardson expressed his gladness that as a result of his mission the VN investigation will start in november.He thinks this a starting point to enter the discussion about the reconstruction and development of the country.In his opinion the US interests in Congo are great.
(note: Problaby he referred to the economic interests. But he has also an eye for the stabilizing influence from a successful development in Congo to the whole of Africa.Obviously there are tendencies in the US to sustain the government Kabila right now. France on the other hand has another opinion. The French secretary of state for development, Mr. Josselin, made clear before the UN Assemblee on october 31, that the democratic process has to start in Congo, before there can be talks about aid.)

Worldbank/Monetary developments

The Governor of the National Bank of Congo, Mr Jean-Claude Masangu Mulongo, has produced a document to clear the financial and monetary situation of Congo. He presented it on october 16 at a meeting with a group of businessmen and foreign diplomats in Kinshasa. Some central points are the following:
* Inflation that was about 400% last year has declined to 11% now.
* The receipts of revenue contributions to the government have reached an average monthly total of $8.5 millions between May and August, against $5.4 millions in 1996.
* During the same period, the average customs receipts is more than $16.6 millions against $8.6 millions in 1996.
* Reduction of tax evasion and fiscal fraud.
* The Ministry of Finance has established a commission to evaluate internal and foreign debt and to propose strategies concerning reduction of this debt.
* The rate of exchange has been stabilized, but it is not yet the same in different localities throughout the country.
Some serious problems are:
* The government has lacked an official budget to use as a financial expression of its program.
* Inconvertibility of banking deposits, and a lack of cash at the Central Bank.
* Inability to pay the wages of civil servants.
The economic situation is characterized by an informal sector which is 3 to 4 times more important than the formal sector. There is a total distrust of the public in its banks. On 9 banks only 3 are financially healthy. The Governor of the Centraal Bank proposes the introduction of a law to control the banks.

The Central Bank will make efforts to get foreign funds, especially at the meeting of international donors to be organized by the World Bank that will probably take place on december 3 in Brussels. Mr Masangu calls this meeting a conference of the "Friends of Congo". The governor also is in dialogue with the International Monetary Fund. Both institutions have offered technical assistance to solve the monetary problems. The government will soon come with a declaration about the foreign debt ($ 14 billion). The Monetary Reform, proposed by Mr Masangu, that intends to ameliorate the economic and financial situation, will shortly get started. There will be a change of bank notes, the problems with repect to the inconvertible deposits and to the diversity of rates have to be solved, vigorous reform measures are necessary to avoid bankruptcy of some banks, etc.

Interview with Kabila / reports about Kinshasa

In Le Soir - october 31 - Kabila is interviewed exhaustively. He talks a.o. about:
* The relations with the neighbour countries. Indeed, there is a risk that notorious opponents of Kabila are staying in the neighbouring countries like Congo-Brazzaville, Angola, Zambia and the CAR.It concerns former Mobutu military who plan to overthrow the Kabila government.
* The opposition and Tshisekedi. Following Kabila there are collaborators of Mobutu among this opposition. One has found proofs about this on the departments. Tshisekedi too had frequent contacts with Mobutu.
* He regrets that the EU has always blocked the funds destinated for the elections during the Mobutu regime.Now there exists a Constitutional Committee and elections will be organized, it would be natural that the EU deblocks these funds. The country needs a good infrastructure to reach out to the whole people in the extensive country and that can not be realized now.
* Kabila invited the international community and specially Belgium to run to the help of Congo.

The reports about Kinshasa from Colette Braeckman - le Soir, october 5 and 7, are very interesting. She writes about many improvements on the image of the city: the sanitation service is working, buildings are repainted,the roads are without holes, and the traffic police is present.Unfortunately the civil servants, the teachers and the soldiers do not receive payment regularly. The people are waiting for the support from abroad, which is not coming yet.
A nice remark is made by a European diplomat who says the EU had reserved an amount of ECU 1.062.000 for Mobutu, but that this amount is blocked waiting for the UN investigations in Congo. The diplomat disagrees with this, because the Congolese people is in that way punished for facts in which it is not involved.
The diplomats consider it important that Kabila is the only one who has grip on the army. The army is composed of different groups: Tutsi, Katangais, Mulelists, and ex-soldiers of Mobutu who has been retrained in the Kitona camp. Kabila is the binding factor. When the support of the West will remain absent and Kabila will be overthrown,then the diplomats fear for a total war of all against all, apart from the ex-mobutu military that stays elsewhere and will get itself mixed up in the war.

Some business

The Canadian Tenke Mining Corporation has published the results of research at Tenke and Fungurume (Shaba): there exists a enormous quantity of copper and cobalt. The Corporation thinks to exploit 100 000 tons of copper and 3000 tons of cobalt yearly.
The also Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation plans an investment of $ 300 million in the gold mines of Kilomoto in Haut Congo. The company expects to produce 200 tons of gold over the next 10 years with a value of $ 2.5 billion. Congo will receive 30% income tax, 5% royalties and $ 10 million administration fees. Barrick will also invest in roads and other infrastructure.
The state-owned Gecamines in Kolwezi (Shaba) expects to produce more than 6000 tons of cobalt for 1998. South African banks agree in financing of $ 30 million. Gecamines plans to sign another contract with European banks. The company exports a large quantity of cobalt to Japan.

See also:chronicle 10