Congo's Violent Peace by Kris Berwouts

Author:Kris Berwouts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Book Network International
Published: 2017-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

THE M23 MISADVENTURE

The Terminator on the run

After the contested election of November 2011, Congo remained a sort of twilight zone in the early months of 2012, politically as well as due to the military situation in the east. The political landscape was totally divided, with discord inside the majority, a complete lack of cohesion within the opposition and no communication at all between the two.

Several events then created an entirely new situation. On 12 February 2012 Katumba Mwanke died in a plane crash. In the same period, Bosco Ntaganda, the CNDP leader and since the Umoja Wetu campaign the pillar of Kabila’s regime in Kivu, left his post and hid in Rutshuru. On 18 April 2012 outgoing finance minister Augustin Matata Ponyo was appointed prime minister. And by the end of the month it was clear that Congo had to deal with a new Tutsi-led rebellion, the M23.

Katumba had managed to become the leading personality inside Kabila’s inner circle after the death of Samba Kaputo (2007), Vital Kamerhe’s fall from grace (2009) and John Numbi’s suspension because of his alleged involvement in the murder of Floribert Chebeya (2010). He rarely met with Western diplomats but played an important role in the establishment and management of Kabila’s private economic empire. He was very familiar with the Rwandan regime as one of the architects of Umoja Wetu, and also connected to governmental and business networks in South Africa, where he had lived for some years after Mobutu’s departure. He was also close to Dan Gertler, the Israeli trader with interests in gold and copper mining and close links to the Kabila family. In Congo he was known as the kingmaker behind the scenes and the man with the key to the state’s treasury. As a member of a small community in South Katanga, he played a crucial role in managing the mineral resources and tensions between the richer southern part of the province and the north, which felt abandoned. Most importantly of all, he monopolized access to the president.

Augustin Katumba Mwanke took so much space in the functioning of the Congolese state that the gaping hole left after his death was comparable to the impact of a meteorite crater: it reshaped the entire landscape. Immediately after his passing, speculation started to circulate as to who would replace him. Several politicians tried to occupy the space left by Katumba but nobody succeeded, and in the months after his death it became increasingly clear he had not been replaced. Instead, the president himself seized the momentum to grow in his role and to give greater weight to his family: his wife Olive Lemba, his twin sister Jaynet Kabila and his younger brother Zoe Kabila. The latter two had been elected as MPs three months earlier.

Katumba Mwanke died when the regime was in deep crisis. With him, the last vestige of collectivity disappeared from the process of decision-making at the top of the regime. He enjoyed the confidence of the president and had the ability to coach him.

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