The sultry western province of Kongo Central is loaded with Congolese history. It contains the seaports at the mouth of the Congo river from which Belgian colonisers siphoned off the exploited riches of the country and it was where Joseph Kasavubu, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first president post-independence, was born and died.
So it was no surprise when President Félix Tshisekedi, on the campaign trail late last month seeking a second term in office, chose this symbolic place to emphasise his Congolité, or Congoleseness. Do not, he warned, be fooled by the “candidat de l’étranger” — the foreign candidate.
It was a thinly veiled attack against his main challenger in the December 20 vote, Moïse Katumbi, whom he claims has links to Congo’s bogeyman, the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.