The Vice-President of the Socialist International, Augustin Kabuya, led a strong delegation from his party, the UDPS, to attend the meeting of the Africa Committee in June 2023. The meeting, organized under the theme “Consolidating democracy and Building State Capacity in the African Region”, brought together socialist and progressive parties from across Africa.
The UDPS delegation took this opportunity to present the concerns of the DRC. The Vice-President notably underlined the presence of Rwandan troops on Congolese territory as well as the disastrous repercussions of this presence on the education of children and the economy of the country. He also denounced the attitude of the Congolese political opposition which, according to him, is developing a discourse of tribal hatred and endangering the progress made since the election of Felix Tshisekedi.
The meeting resulted in the development of an action plan for the Dakar Declaration, which includes 14 resolutions on various topics such as democracy, peace, women’s rights and ecological transition. A new president of the Africa committee was also elected.
The UDPS hopes that the Socialist International will obtain observer status in the December 2023 elections in the DRC. The participation of this organization could promote more credible and transparent legislative elections and thus consolidate democracy in the DRC.
The work of this meeting was closed with the publication of a final press release and a press conference.