Kabila moves to block revision of Constitution

Joseph Kabila is launching a ‘call to mobilise the Congolese people’ to ensure the failure of incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi's plan to establish a dedicated commission of experts to revise the Constitution. A report on the allAfrica site notes that Kabila’s Common Front for the Congo (FCC) has called for the ‘blocking’ of the revision, saying the people will ‘rise up’ to ‘defend their rights, their freedom and their sovereignty’. Tshisikedi had earlier said the 2006 Constitution was not written by ‘compatriots representing the diversity of the Congolese nation’. The FCC accused Tshisekedi of engaging in a ‘political machination’ to divert attention from his inability to ensure security. The coalition believes that revision would constitute ‘a danger to the peace, unity, and stability of the country’. In 2015, Kabila tried to modify this same Constitution while he led the country, but had to give up under pressure from the Church, citizens, and the opposition.