Felix Tshisekedi, accused of taking power through subterfuge and electoral fraud, was sworn in as president of Congo on Thursday at a ceremony plagued by mishap and boycotted by most African leaders.
What should have been a historic moment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo turned farcical after the new leader was overtaken by a bout of apparent illness, briefly abandoning his inauguration speech just as he was savouring his triumph.
Mr Tshisekedi later returned to the podium, blaming a “moment of weakness”. Aides blamed an overly tight bullet-proof vest, but, in a superstitious land haunted by decades of internecine violence, many will see an ill-omen that reflects the controversy surrounding his improbable ascent to office.
Behind him on the dais brooded the inscrutable figure, hidden behind mirrored sunglasses, of Joseph Kabila, the former president accused of finagling the election to ensure a pliant and possibly temporary successor.
Mr Tshisekedi may be the first person in Congolese history to rise to the presidency from opposition ranks, but, if Catholic observers and leaked data from the electoral commission are to be believed, he won less than a fifth of the vote. His rival in the opposition, Martin Fayulu, won nearly 60 percent, the same data showed.
Western powers and even the African Union condemned the vote amid suspicions that Mr Tshisekedi had cut a secret power-sharing deal with his predecessor.
Yet with the Congolese people apparently acquiescing in the election, perhaps for fear of tipping their fragile state into renewed violence, outsiders have backed down. They pointedly stayed away from the inauguration, though; of 14 African leaders invited, only Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, who won controversially won re-election in 2017, turned up.
Eager to emphasise the dawn of a new era, Mr Tshisekedi pledged to release political prisoners and struck a conciliatory note in his address.
“We want to build a strong Congo turned towards its development and security,” he said. “A Congo for all, in which everyone has a place.”
The future of Central Africa’s troubled giant, plagued by a legacy of brutal civil war, continued insecurity and debilitating corruption, will depend on whether Mr Tshisekedi can become his own man. Unable even to appoint his own cabinet after Mr Kabila’s coalition won an overwhelming parliamentary majority, few observers are betting on it.
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