Félix Tshisekedi has taken the plunge. In an address to the nation delivered on Thursday, August 27, the Congolese president officially launched the National Dialogue for Peace, Cohesion and State Reform, a process expected to run for a maximum of three months and, in his words, tackle the deep-rooted causes of the crises that periodically weaken the country.
The announced timeline is meant to be precise. A preparatory committee is to be set up in the coming days, ahead of a first phase of consultations across the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 26 provinces. Ordinary citizens, local authorities, elected officials, political parties, civil society, traditional authorities and religious denominations are all expected to take part, with the goal of surfacing grassroots concerns and drawing up a shared national diagnosis. That work is then meant to feed into national talks in Kinshasa, the final stage of the process.
The head of state was quick to draw several red lines. He will not tolerate any challenge to the results of the 2023 presidential election, he warned, while also ruling out any notion of a transition or power-sharing arrangement: institutions born of the ballot box will remain in place until the next constitutional deadlines. The dialogue, he insisted, must neither suspend the functioning of state institutions nor turn into a political marketplace enabling personal repositioning.
The AFC/M23 has been excluded from the process as a political actor. For Kinshasa, matters relating to a ceasefire, disengagement, cantonment and disarmament of the rebel movement remain the exclusive purview of the Doha process. Tshisekedi justified the decision by refusing to let a military conquest translate into political legitimacy. A door has nonetheless been left ajar: fighters who individually, sincerely and verifiably renounce armed struggle, who condemn the aggression denounced by Congolese authorities and who acknowledge the suffering inflicted on victims could be eligible for reintegration.
The president also ruled out any general amnesty for the most serious crimes. Peace, he stressed, cannot mean impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts of genocide and other imprescriptible offenses.
The presidential camp enthusiastically welcomed the launch of the initiative, with officials from the ruling majority describing it as a way to strengthen national unity while ruling out any negotiation with those they describe as aggressors and their allies. The reception has been far more skeptical, however, among the Catholic Church and other religious authorities, who have long called for a genuinely inclusive dialogue bringing together all of the country’s political and armed actors. For these critical voices, the DRC’s recent history has shown the limits of peace processes that leave out major stakeholders in the conflict.
