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DR Congo’s Kabila visits Angola

Thursday August 02 2018
kab-renco

Congolese President Joseph Kabila with his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço in Luanda. PHOTO | ANGOLAN PRESIDENCY

By ARNALDO VIEIRA

Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Thursday visited Luanda for a one-day State trip, on the invitation of his Angolan counterpart.

“President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, arrived at 10:40am in Luanda,” read a statement from the office of the Angolan presidency.

President João Lourenço will hold bilateral talks with the Congolese leader to boost ties between the two neighbours.

The visit comes even as the vast DR Congo is in the grip of a political crisis over Mr Kabila’s future after he failed to leave office when his two-term constitutional limit expired in December 2016.

Last week, the two leaders were scheduled to meet in Angola’s western Bengula province to discuss the current situation in DRC, particularly the elections scheduled for December 23. However, the meeting was never held.

President Kabila, 46, has been in power since 2001, having taken over the leadership of the country after his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila, was assassinated.

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Following a deal brokered by the Catholic Church, President Kabila agreed that new elections could be held by the end of 2017.

The law allows him to remain in office until a successor is elected, but the failure to hold the elections has since sparked a series of violent protests in major towns across the country.

In May, during his visit to France, President Lourenço discussed the DRC situation with President Emmanuel Macron and announced a Luanda summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders to address regional security concerns.

However, the summit was later postponed, on the request of President Kabila.

The 16-member SADC bloc will hold its annual summit later this month in Namibia.

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