Kinshasa, April 2nd, 2025 (CPA) – The Democratic Republic of Congo has a rendezvous with no-one other than its own destiny, said a political player and member of the presidential platform on Monday, on the sixth day of consultations for the formation of the Government of National Unity.
‘I would like to urge the President of the Republic to complete these consultations, because of course we are at war, and our people have no rendezvous with anyone other than their own destiny, and the destiny of our people is in jeopardy, and every day that passes worsens this peril’, declared Lambert Mende.
This political player, who made this statement at the end of his discussion with the Head of State’s special adviser on security, Eberande Kolongele, felt that the urgent matters of the day should not be submerged by the whims of socio-political players who are slow in coming.
‘Admittedly, there are some of us who are not yet ready to respond to this institutional initiative launched by the President of the Republic. I wanted to urge him to leave the door open. Even if answers can be found to the problems we have at different stages’, he said.
Lambert Mende encouraged the Congolese President not to drag out the Political Consultations, given the urgency of the responses to the Rwandan aggression. ‘We can start with a first stage and finish in three to five months, because as I have said, the Congo has no appointment with anyone other than itself and its destiny’, he insisted.
The Consultations, a time for national introspection
The former Minister of Communication and Media under Joseph Kabila also welcomed the Head of State’s convening of the Political Consultations, which he described as a time for national introspection, to which the country’s entire political class is invited to reflect on the causes of the misfortune of the Rwandan aggression. ‘The Head of State, who is the guarantor of the security and well-being of over 100 million Congolese, had a duty to call all his compatriots to a moment of introspection. I call it introspection, because we need to know where we come from, these misfortunes that keep befalling us’, said the elected representative of Sankuru province. To this end, he appealed to all Congolese, to the Congolese opposition, and to Protestant and Catholic clerics, to show their patriotic resolve by responding to the appeal of the Congolese President. ‘This is why I would like to call on all Congolese compatriots, from both the majority and the opposition, from civil society and particularly religious leaders, including those from the Catholic and Protestant Churches, whom I thank for the contact made with the Head of State and who are in the process of multiplying other consultations, which we cannot prevent’, he said. ‘But from our point of view, these are responses that only the institutions authorized by the Congolese people should provide. But in an exceptional situation, it is normal that exceptional responses should be made. In the case of these two religious denominations’, he added. Meanwhile, another political party claiming to belong to the republican opposition expressed its willingness to make its contribution to the Government of National Unity, setting as its priorities the end of the war and the recovery of the territories occupied by the Rwandan aggressor. ‘We are a political party that is a member of the republican opposition. We have come to respond to the call of the Head of State in the face of Rwandan aggression, we have come to make our contribution, to respond to a patriotic duty. And for the next government, we have set out our priorities: ending the war and recovering the territories occupied by the enemy’, said Néné Nkulu, President of the Alliance of forces for the well-being of the Congolese people (Afba).ACP/