In a firm statement, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo condemns the push to amend the constitution of 18 February 2006. The church warns that tampering with the entrenched articles would expose the country to ‘enormous risks, including balkanisation’.
The Catholic church is intensifying its rhetoric against any constitutional revision. In a public declaration, Donatien Nshole, then spokesperson for Cenco, denounced what he called a move to ‘offer another term to the current president of the republic’.
For Cenco, this initiative undermines ‘a historic political compromise that was hard-won after all the crises the country has faced since independence’. The bishops specifically target the referendum law, voted through, they say, ‘under the pretext of filling a legal vacuum’.
According to Donatien Nshole, that law would pave the way for a popular consultation enabling changes to ‘intangible matters already locked in by article 220, in violation of the constitutional order’.
The Cenco spokesperson reminded the public that this article, which locks the number and duration of presidential terms, ‘represents a genuine bulwark against dictatorship and the privatisation of the state’. The church’s warning also focuses on the consequences. ‘Any forced move in this direction carries enormous risks, including the balkanisation of the country’, Nshole stressed. He also fears the ‘triggering of another civil war’ in a context where ‘political rivalries take on ethnic and tribal overtones’.
After what he described as ‘deep discernment’, Cenco says it sees ‘neither the necessity, nor the urgency, nor the opportunity for a constitutional change’.
For the Catholic church, the priority in the Democratic Republic of Congo remains ‘peace, the social well-being of the Congolese people, unity and national cohesion’.
