Letter from Kinshasa

Congo to EU: Mind your own business

An election that's been delayed for two years is about to be held, and the country has booted out the EU ambassador.

Bart Ouvry, center, at church in Kinshasa on December 29 | Marco Longari/AFP vcia Getty Images

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — The message from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the EU was loud and not-at-all subtle.

The African nation’s decision to expel the EU ambassador, Bart Ouvry, days before a long-delayed election, was done in public, humiliating fashion.

On Thursday evening, Congo’s foreign affairs minister gathered the diplomatic community for a meeting in the capital, Kinshasa. According to people in the room, the government made sure Ouvry was sat in the front row before telling him on live, state-controlled television that he had to pack his bags and get out of the country within 48 hours.

The move sends diplomatic relations between Congo and the EU to an all-time low, as the vast and mineral-rich country heads into an election on Sunday that could see its first peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

The expulsion of Europe’s top diplomat came in direct response to renewed EU sanctions against high-level Congolese officials, including President Joseph Kabila’s handpicked candidate to replace him, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

“Nothing can justify this arbitrary act” — Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief

“We are not in the domain of diplomacy here, it’s all about a show of force, and the Congolese government sent a clear warning to the diplomatic community,” said an EU diplomat in Kinshasa, talking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.

Brussels was caught off-guard and condemned the decision.

“Nothing can justify this arbitrary act … the EU would like to recall that these measures [the sanctions] are linked to violations of human rights and obstacles created to peacefully exit the DRC from its crisis,” Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, said in a statement Friday night.

Congo, which is roughly the size of Western Europe, is no backwater for the EU: it’s the world’s top producer of cobalt, a key component in batteries for electric cars and mobile phones.

Between 2014 and 2020 the EU gave €709 million to the DRC, mainly spent on improving governance and the country’s dilapidated infrastructure as well as health projects. In 2018 it also gave €12.83 million for the fight against Ebola, as the country battled with the worst epidemic of the virus in its history.

Ahead of Sunday’s election, Brussels also financed a mission of independent election observers, after its own election monitors were refused accreditation by the government earlier this year.

The EU first adopted sanctions against Shadary and 15 other top Congolese officials, including a cannibal warlord, in 2016 for severe human rights violations and interference in the electoral process.

At the time Shadary was interior minister and oversaw a violent crackdown against protesters demonstrating against a delay in holding elections. President Kabila, in power since his father was murdered by a bodyguard in 2001, has now stayed in office for two years after his second elected term expired in December 2016.

The EU sanctions were extended for a year in early December.

Congo’s government has accused the EU of blatant interference and said the sanctions, which include travel bans and asset freezes, are illegal and renewing them is futile since Kabila intends to step down in January.

In Kinshasa, over 10 million Congolese, out of the 40 million registered for voting nationwide, are preparing to head to the polls, but observers and diplomats fear a rigged election.

“Many thanks to my loyal and patient caddy, who has always accompanied me in good humor on the Kinshasa golf course” — Bart Ouvry

The introduction of touchscreen voting machines has been widely criticized by opposition candidates, who claim the previously untested devices are more vulnerable to voter fraud than paper ballots, and could be compromised by Congo’s defective power supplies.

On Friday evening, Ouvry held farewell drinks with Kinshasa’s diplomatic community and diplomats expressed concern about the rising atmosphere of intimidation from the government as it tries to hold on to power and crack down on foreign interference.

On Saturday Ouvry attended a service at Kinshasa’s Notre Dame Cathedral and publicly bid farewell to his golf caddy on his Facebook page.

“Many thanks to my loyal and patient caddy, who has always accompanied me in good humor on the Kinshasa golf course,” he said.

Giulia Paravicini is a journalist based in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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