Season Belgian journalist Colette Braeckman has forecasted a torrid 2025 which she has termed as a year of all dangers for President Félix Tshisekedi.
A recognized specialist in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Braeckman has developed an in-depth analysis of the situation in the country after a year of governance under Félix Tshisekedi.
As the Congolese impostor president approaches his upcoming leisurely trip to Belgium, scheduled for January, it is essential to inform Belgian and Congolese community about the issues and prospects for the development of the DR Congo.
1. For Colette Braeckman, in one year of exercising power, Félix Tshisekedi’s failures have been totally: (i) In terms of the war in the East, where she says “it is time for disappointment”. (ii) On the diplomatic level, “the Luanda summit ended in failure”. (iii) On the domestic political level, the “development of an internal dialogue front which risked confusing the issues also failed.”
2. Regarding the change of the Constitution, Colette Braeckman specifies that “Tshisekedi’s close guard, that is to say his family, his relatives, his compatriots from Kasai, among whom are many intellectuals, the members of his UDPS party are preparing a change of constitution that would allow a third term”. To that, she adds that “representing the Catholic Church, the CENCO has decreed a general mobilization and the main opposition leaders have declared themselves hostile to this project because they fear a “presidency for life”.
3. Colette Braeckman mentions the rapprochement between Joseph Kabila and Moïse Katumbi by stating that “they met in Addis Ababa to denounce the project to modify the Constitution and they highlighted the increasing repression that is hitting their supporters and forcing into exile many personalities formerly close to Joseph Kabila”.
4. The journalist from the daily newspaper Le Soir writes that “This development of a common front added to the setbacks of underpaid and poorly motivated soldiers is pushing the regime to harden its position”. She mentions the cases of the Belgian expert Jean-Jacques Wondo, imprisoned in Ndolo, of the pastor Ngoy Mulunda, kidnapped in Zambia where he had refugee status and transferred to a prison in Kasai and of Professor Muteba, a close observer of the public debt as a examples of the decay of justice in the DR Congo.
5. In conclusion, Colette Braeckman says: “The military and diplomatic setbacks, the intransigence of the Rwandan neighbor added to this internal front opened by the power itself mark the year that is beginning under the sign of instability”.
