Tensions have been running high in Congo as the parliament plans to meet on Sunday to vote for a referendum for a change in their constitution. The change could see the sitting President Sassou Nguesso contest for a third term in office during the country’s election next year. According to reports four people were shot dead and ten others injured by the police on Tuesday when the opposition party supporters stepped out in protest against the referendum. Congo’s interior minister Raymond Mbolou has termed this protest ‘an organized and coordinated insurrection.’ This is the second protest in Congo in less than a week after another protest took place in its commercial city on Saturday. Amnesty international has already reacted to this news, saying the heavy-handed response by Congo’s security forces “not only violates the protesters’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, but may inflame an already tense situation.”
Congo could see an ‘Arab Spring’
Sassou Nguesso has been President of Congo for three decades in two separate stints and it seems the people are tired of him. An anonymous politician has called for ‘civil disobedience’ from the people of Congo against what opposition leader Paulin Makaya termed a ‘constitutional coup d’état’ from the Government. Angry youths have taken to the streets to vent their anger, burning tires and erecting barricades. The Government yesterday switched off all forms of communication in what is now seen as a dictatorial regime. If the referendum succeeds and Sassou Nguesso gets a third term in office, an uprising similar to the ‘Arab Spring’ could happen in this Central African country. This could lead to the ousting of Sassou Nguesso by the very same people he intends to rule.
Burkina Faso and Burundi are examples of African countries who have recently experienced military coup d’état when there is civil unrest.
Sassou Nguesso could be encouraged by happenings in neighbouring Rwanda but unlike Paul Kagame, most Congolese do not seem to hold much affection for him. It is also worthy to note that earlier this month, the French authorities seized Sassou Nguesso’s properties in France, citing them as proceeds of ‘ill-gotten gains’. He was also accused of spending $400,000 on hotel bills at the Waldorf Hotel Astoria hotel in New York in 2007. This spending comes in sharp contrast to what is expected of a country where 70% of the population live in poverty. It remains to be seen if the referendum will be passed on Sunday.
