Presidential sources in Kinshasa say Felix Tshisekedi has started a new era of openness by freeing Katumbi  and more than 700 other prisoners.

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Moïse Katumbi tried in vain to get home for last year’s election won by Felix Tshisekedi.

He’d fled into exile in May 2016 after being accused of recruiting mercenaries.

He was sentenced in absentia to three years imprisonment for real estate fraud.

Pardoning Katumbi and other political foes of Joseph Kabila is designed to draw a line under the oppressive period of  the former president’s rule.  

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Analysts believe it was stitched up before Tshisekedi’s disputed election win last January.

After 18 years in power, Joseph Kabila bowed to international and domestic pressure to step down.

But only until 2023 when he will constitutionally be permitted to run again.

When it became clear his chosen successor Emmanuel Shadary had no chance of winning the election, Kabila entered into a deal with Felix Tshisekedi and ensured that the latter won the poll.

Unable to govern because of the chokehold Kabila’s coalition has on parliament, Tshisekedi’s been forced to enter into a power-sharing deal.

It will enable him to name a prime minister.

But it stymies any hope he might have had of being a reformist president.

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It is widely accepted that Fayulu won almost two third of the vote, but continental and international support for him is slipping.

Martin Fayulu’s call for peaceful resistance will continue to frustrate efforts to secure stability and prosperity in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Catholic Church, that cast severe doubt on the victory of President Felix Tshisekedi,  now accepts Fayulu’s battle for recognition of his victory has entered the political arena.

Despite misgivings expressed by some of them, African heads of government gathering in Addis Ababa later this week are expected to endorse Thisekedi.

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Of the many brickbats justifiably being hurled at the Congo’s new President Felix Tshisekdi, daddy’s boy is not one of them.

Nepotism could easily spring to mind as the reason why the son of the veteran opposition figure finally gets the job his father managed to secure.

This would be simplistic and frankly wrong.

Etienne Tshisekedi, who founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and opposed presidents Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent Kabila and Joseph Kabila , made no bones about  what he saw as his son’s inexperience and inadequacies. He frequently said he was not about to hand his offspring  a free ticket to his life’s work.

It was only after Etienne’s death in 2017 that Belgian- educated Felix was able to rise through the ranks to take the leadership of the UDPS.

Felix is adamant that he will emulate his late  father who he refers to as his master.

Family members say the son has none of the stubbornness and pride that hampered his father but enabled him to persevere through internal exile and imprisonment.

Felix is diplomatic, conciliatory and ready to listen to a variety of viewpoints.

This should stand him in good stead running the Central African giant rich in minerals including the coltan that keeps our smart phones and other electronic devices working.

For if there is anything that that abounds in this fecund country capable of feeding the entire continent, it is the variety of viewpoints.

His father’s misgivings about his inexperience notwithstanding, Felix has shown an adeptness in deal making that would the envy of his counterpart in the White House.

He quickly broke free of an opposition election pact when it became clear that he could do more beneficial business with the incumbent President Joseph Kabila who was about it stand down after 18 years in power but made no secret of  medium-term plans to get back at the helm in 2023.

The deal they stitched up will give Tshisekedi the presidency but he will be hamstrung by not controlling the legislature still firmly in the hands of the Kabila coalition with 337 of the 500 seats.

Indeed, Tshisikedi’s coalition has only 46 MPs. The second most powerful party in the legislature – with 102 seats – is the coalition of Martin Fayulu who’s claim to have won the Presidential election is backed by the Catholic Church, the European Union, France and Belgium.

So Tshisekedi will have his work cut out delivering on his campaign promises to restore the rule of law, eradicate the “gangrene” of corruption and bring prosperity to the country reduced to poverty by decades of Mobutu Sese Seko’s kleptocracy, Laurent Kabila’s venality and his son’s corruption.

Nevertheless those countries and organizations that have put on record their serious doubts about the vote count recorded by the national electoral commission have now taken a pragmatic view.

They accept the sovereign decision of the Congolese administration and constitutional court, which upheld the election result, and are hoping Tshisekedi can do what he has promised.

The denouement is far from perfect. But which African solutions are? 

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Kabila says he’ll hand over the reins without regret.

The election of Felix Tshisekedi remains controversial. 

France, which cast doubt on the results of the Presidential election, has noted Tshisekedi’s win but stopped short of congratulating him. 

It will send its ambassador in Kinshasa to witness his swearing in.

The Presidents of South Africa, Kenya, Burundi, and Tanzania have all congratulated Tshisekedi  and underlined their respect for the sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The wait-and-see attitude adopted by fellow African and the wider international community puts the onus on the new DRC president to deliver on the reconciliation and progress that he has promised.

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The electoral commission says he won 39% of the vote in the poll on December 30.

The commission says he  beat opposition coalition candidate Martin Fayulu and ruling party contender Emmanuel Shadary.

The much-awaited result from the Congolese electoral commission is at odds with the tally of the Catholic Church which had 40 000 observers in the field for the election.

They say Martin Fayulu, the opposition coalition candidate won the  most votes.

Observers fear that Felix Tshisikedi has made power sharing deal with outgoing President Joseph Kabila.

The election should give the DRC its first democratic change of President.

Diplomats fear if there is a stand off, it could lead to violence.

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He’s urging the electoral commission to publish that results in the near future.

As a  businessman and oil tycoon, Martin Fayulu learned the art of the deal.

But he’s adamant there will be no horse trading over who wins the Presidential election in the DRC.

He says the people already know the winner.

He stops short of claiming victory himself which would be breaking the law.

But Fayulu warns the authorities against trying to disguise the truth.

Fayulu and another opposition candidate Felix Tshisikedi are believed to have shaded Emmanuel Shadary who was picked by the ruling coalition to succeed President Joseph Kabila in the Congo’s first democratic change of leadership in its history. 

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The Western members of the 15-nation UN powerhouse and human rights watchdog groups are urging South Africa to intervene with the Kinshasa  government and ensure the results reflect the will of the Congolese people.

For now, United Nations Security Council members are going with the South African call to give the electoral commission in Kinshasa time to do its work.

But the Western powers – Britain,  France and the United States – expect this to be completed by the time the council meets at the end of the week.

And, briefed by the Catholic Church and human rights groups that closely watched the elections and the counting, they’ll not tolerate any attempt by the President Joseph Kabila’s government to manipulate the results.   

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Head of the country’s electoral commission, known as CENI says the country must be patient because he doesn’t know when those results will be made known.

The report by Human Rights Watch of irregularities and suppression of voting rights at the DRC election is at odds with regional grouping SADC’s finding that the poll had been relatively well managed.

Urging South African intervention, the watchdog  echoes the Congolese opposition’s call on Pretoria to ensure the DRC people are not cheated.

They say the delay is deepening their conviction that they have won and that the government of President Joseph Kabila is refusing to accept this. 

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The statement will please fellow United Nations Security Council members Russia and China but disappoint the Western members and human rights watchdogs urging the Congolese government to accept the defeat of its candidate.

South Africa officially accepts the findings of the regional observer group SADC that the Congolese election went relatively well.

But Western countries and human rights groups – who fear the government of Joseph Kabila is delaying things in a bid to manipulate the results – expected more leadership from South Africa that played a crucial mediation role in ending that country’s civil war and putting it on the path to democracy. 

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