African leaders including nine former heads of state and the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Koffi Anan have warned of the grave danger in the delay of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) election to replace President Joseph Kabila.
President Kabila threw the future of the country into chaos by refusing to step down at the end of his constitutional mandate last December. The DRC is a vast, mineral-rich country which had internal war from 1996-2003 leading to the death of millions.
An agreement between Kabila’s ruling coalition and opposition leaders calls for the presidential election to take place by the end of this year, but delays in registering voters and mobilizing financing makes the election infeasible.
“The failure to organize elections in late 2016, in conformity with the constitution of the DRC, has created an acute political crisis,” Annan and former presidents including South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo said in a statement issued late on Thursday.
“We feel obliged to sound the alarm before it is too late,” it added.
Dozens died last year in violent anti-government protests in major cities, and an insurrection in the centre of the country has killed hundreds and displaced 1.3 million more since last August.
