Apollinaire Malumalu

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Abbe A. Muholongu Malumalu, president of the Independent Electoral Commission - which oversees the Congolese presidential elections - sits in his office in Kinshasa, Congo, Oct. 19, 2006. (AP Photo / Gary Knight)

Apollinaire Malumalu (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Tiptoeing Out Of Hell On The High Wire of Democracy

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a critical juncture.

Less than a year after Joseph Kabila was sworn in after the first free elections in 40 years, a complicated web of rival armed groups threatens to undo the small steps the nation has taken toward a lasting peace.

In March, Forces Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo (FARDC) and presidential guard troops loyal to Mr. Kabila clashed with opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba's Mouvement de Liberation du Congo (MLC). Since then, FARDC forces have led an escalating campaign of harassment against those associated with the MLC, violently cracking down on any kind of dissent over election results.

In the north of the country, armed Hutu rebels known as the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR) operate bases for the purpose of deposing the government of neighboring Rwanda. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says FDLR activities have caused the displacement of an estimated 640,000 people.

In the west, Uganda is threatening to send forces across the border if the Kabila government is unable to control anti-Ugandan militias known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Add to this simmering cauldron of rival acronyms the odd warlord, a disgruntled political neophyte or two, and over 250 distinct ethnic groups, and there is potential for bloodshed on a massive scale - again.

Stuck right in the middle of this political tinderbox is Dr. Apollinaire Malumalu, clergyman, professor, and President of the Independent Electoral Commission. Considering that the Congo is still reeling from a conflict which cost more lives than any other since World War II, the fact that the poll went ahead at all is something of a miracle.

"There were logistical problems with a deteriorated infrastructure," says Dr. Malumalu. The entire culture of electoral procedure also had to be taught to a country of 63 million people. "One had to learn everything about organizing the election – and that was the challenge of training, the struggle against ignorance in all its forms," he says. The church, for example, played a key role by teaching people how to fill in voting forms, and in some cases, explaining the very concept of voting.

A volatile political situation after the 1998-2003 civil war, which is estimated to have claimed almost four million lives, was an extra logistical factor. "The greatest challenge was organizing elections in a country where political parties are not firmly established… it was hard to communicate with political actors in a country where rumors play an enormous role in relation to official information," he says.

Congolese and international observers considered the elections to be a success partly due to efforts of bodies like the electoral commission and church groups. "We were able to create positive pressure toward the people, and they took it on as their own responsibility… so thanks to the civic education, [the public] became partners in the election, and took it on as their own," says Sister Marie Bernard Mbalula Alima, executive secretary of the Congolese Justice and Peace Commission.

But it wasn't long before the rumor-mill cranked into high gear and complaints about how the polls were conducted began to roll in. Cardinal Frederic Etsou, for example, accused Dr. Malumalu of being biased in favor of Mr. Kabila. Subsequent intransigence over the issue by the Catholic Church did little to reduce tensions.

Dr. Malumalu says such accusations are groundless. "The results were put on the Internet, giving the opportunity to anyone to verify them," he says. "There was a report filed for compilation of the results signed by the representatives of the political parties of the candidates – and there isn't one report from the (14,000 national observers and 2,000 international observers) that can corroborate that accusation."

Others agree the electoral commission did a good job, and that critics such as Cardinal Etsou were not speaking for the church as an institution. "I would say that they were speaking as 'spokespersons' for different political interests," says Sister Alima.

These kinds of political squabbles dominated both the election period that lasted from the first polls in July, 2006 to Mr. Kabila's swearing in December. The post-election environment hasn't exactly been smooth sailing either. Clashes in the capital of Kinshasa in March seemed to confirm that democracy was to be no magic bullet for the country's problems, and – as is often the case with elections in developing countries – was acting as a lighting rod for open conflict that had only recently been quieted.

Dr. Malumalu says the election's only goal was to address the crisis of legitimacy in the Congolese government. It is now up to those people who were voted in to fix the nation's problems. "The country was mismanaged for years – we suffer from pillaging of natural resources, a lack of justice, and a lack of security," he says. "We can't speak at the level of elections only, the elections can offer a push for a new beginning for us Congolese to struggle against corruption, against a lack of values… so the country can rebuild itself."

Human rights are key to that vision. Indeed, more human rights problems in the country are beginning to come to light. In July 2007, U.N. Special Rapporteur Yakin Erturk found extreme sexual violence against women is pervasive in the Congo and local authorities do little to stop it or prosecute those responsible. "Women are gang raped, often in front of their families and communities," the report said.

The fact that such practices are now being exposed peacefully may offer testimony that the democratic process is slowly starting to move forward in the Congo. But it is clear that there is a long way to go before the lives of ordinary Congolese change to any major degree. "There must be a new social contract and a new moral contract between those who govern and those who are governed," says Dr. Malumalu.

Justice is another area that needs urgent attention. The court system is in urgent need of trained professionals who can deal with the complex issues that are shaping the emergent patterns of Congolese democracy. "We really need to work on boosting capacity, that is very important… the constitution alone is not sufficient," says Sister Alima.

Many Congolese hope that just because full-scale fighting and the historic elections of 2006 are over, the world will not forget their country. In an area on the globe where much good will toward the West remains intact, the United States is frequently held up as an example of a nation that respects the full spectrum of rights that citizens of other nations have, even when it may not necessarily be in American interests to protect those rights.

Sister Alima gives an example when the French embassy refused to help her publish a literacy manual due to its religious content, and realized that some of her rights were considered to be more equal than others. "Then I went to the U.S. embassy, and I was able to launch the program through their support," she said.

With democratic institutions in their infancy in the Congo, such lessons resonate with piercing clarity to those trying to create the conditions for the nation to cautiously move forward. "Democracy should first reinforce mechanisms for representation – representation of civil society, representation of the private sector – and struggle against political nepotism," says Dr. Malumalu. "It is a process and one must strike while the iron is hot."

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2007

16 January 2008: Rights of Passage In late September George W. Bush stood before the U.N. General Assembly and extolled a document whose sixtieth anniversary is being commemorated in a yearlong advocacy campaign that began December 10. >>

Watch the Global X interview with Apollinaire Malumalu, president of Independent Electoral Commission of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Note: Interview conducted in French.