UNION
POUR LA DÉMOCRATIE
ET LE PROGRÈS SOCIAL

NEW YEAR STATEMENT OF HIS EXCELLENCY Dr ETIENNE TSHISEKEDI wa MULUMBA, THE CONGOLESE OPPOSITION LEADER

Johannesburg, 31st December 2001

Dear Compatriots,

I would like to hold this opportunity of the end of the year 2001 to convey my best wishes of happy new year 2002 that we all want prosperous and hopeful for our congolese people.

This new year starts while my country is undergoing a deep and unprecedent political and military crisis, doubled by the presence of foreign troops supporting the regime of Kinshasa, on one hand, and the rebellion, on the other hand.

This regrettable and unfortunate war has already claimed three millions innocent lives of my fellow compatriots who would have wished to celebrate this event in their respective families.

Furthermore, whilst the whole world is celebrating this glorious event, Congolese people are witnessing and living a legitimacy crisis since three decades which is characterized by unspeakable and appalling consequences such as the respective dictatorship regimes that have been abusing power, the destruction of the economic infrastructures, the systematic and generalised pillage of the national resources and the systematic violation of human rights. To the present, Congo has three armies, three territories and five different administrations, all under foreign military rule. It is within this framework that I hold this opportunity to pay tribute to those of us who lost their lives during this liberation fight, on the battle ground and those who passed away as result of sicknesses caused by all the above quoted consequences, of torture and of arbitrary arrests.

It is almost twenty one years that all of us have been engaged in this fight for the installation of a State of law where democracy must prevail. I would like to remind all the Congolese people of the high price that we all paid to acquire on 24th April 1990 the promise of the National Sovereign Conference whose findings and conclusions proved very salutary to our country, but were later dismissed and boycotted by the different regimes of terror and dictatorship.

Today, thanks to your endurance and perseverance as well as the efforts by the International Community, we have successfully acquired the Lusaka Peace Accord 0n 10th July, 30 July and 31st July 1999. And above all, on 4th May 2001, we did obtained the signature of the fundamental principles declaration of the political negotiations.

Thus, I appeal to all parties to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue to overlook their private interests in order to converge all our efforts to the success of this important forum.

Dear Compatriots,

You do remember that from 19th December 1999 to 15th April 2001, I did undertake a fifteen-month worldwide trip from Africa via Europe to America. My aim during that trip was to raise the awareness of the wold leaders as well as mobilising the international institutions in charge of the world decisions making process, and also all Congolese abroad of the deep legitimacy crisis in which our country is. I also highlighted the importance of the Lusaka Accord in the whole Congolese crisis.

I am delighted that I can today share with you the concrete outcome of my trip as outlined below:

1. The effective cease-fire on all the fronts;

2. The ongoing process of disengagement and disarmament of combating troops, the start of foreign troops retreat and the progressive deployment of the UN troops;

3. The effective diplomatic support towards the Facilitator of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, Sir Ketumile Masire;

4. The UN investigation of the generalised pillage of the natural resources of Congo;

5. The successful achievement of the preparatory meetings of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue;

6. The availability of South Africa to host the Inter-Congolese political negotiations, and for which I am sincerely grateful to its authorities;

7.The military embargo on the sale of arms to Congo and the embargo on the purchase of raw materials from Congo.

Simultaneously, Congolese people have committed to great length to adhere to the values of the fundamental liberties that characterise the civilised and modern world, have strengthened their hope in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.

I can reaffirm our unshakable faith in the Lusaka Peace Accord and the effective organisation of the Inter-Congolese political negotiations the decisions of which are compulsory and executory.

I also adhere to the new political order and national reconciliation agenda that is a key to endow our country with lasting peace thanks to the installation of a state of law through democracy. Our mainstream policies will also consist in protecting our nation by training and setting up a modernised and full equipped army, police and security services, all fully national, free from political influence, and respectful of international criteria.

Dear Compatriots,

I would like to hold this occasion reiterate my gratitude to the international community for its tireless efforts in search for peaceful solutions to the political and military crisis that our country is plunged into.

But I can only categorically denounce the decision by the European Union on 14th December 2001 in Brussels to resume structural co-operation with subsequent effect of granting the administration of Kinshasa an urgent development aids and for which an agreement is about to be signed in January 2002. I also express our protest against all kinds of sordid manoeuvres initiated by some of the western countries with the sole aim to disrupt the effective organisation of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue.

Those separatist and conflictual manoeuvres will only increase the danger of partition that our country faces, since frustration will inevitably give rise to rejection feelings against all diplomatic and political arrangements made beyond the boundaries of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, the only acceptable and credible forum of consultations and decisions.

I am able to say, with regards to the previous statement, that an important number of facts give a clear indication that those western countries are fully determined to avert all the efforts to implement, to the letter, the Lusaka Peace Accord. The sole end of all those arrangements are to maintain and consolidate the rule of their marionnettes that will enable them to keep on plundering Congo and impoverishing Congolese.

Referring to the principle of equality that covers all the parties to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue and that requires that each component be treated identically, I can only urge those countries to take that dimension into account as stated in the Lusaka Peace Accord in order to create an environment that is favourable to the negotiations.

Dear Compatriots,

I reaffirm my ties with the national unity, the national sovereignty, the territorial integrity and the respect of human rights. I, thus, request the implementation of the Gaboronne republican pact throughout the entire Congolese territory.

Therefore, I request the immediate and unconditional release of all political detainees of whom are the cadres and members of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, the liberalisation of the political activities, as well as the freedom of the media.

I urge, on the same occasion, all the Congolese belligerants and all their backers to stop massacres, crimes and genocide, as well as the pillage of the national resources throughout the entire Congolese territory. My fellow Congolese should now prioritise the supreme interests of our nation and our people.

Furhtermore, I invite the International Donors to financially assist the Facilitator to enable him to resume the Inter-Congolese Dialogue at the end of January 2002 in South Africa.

I finally thank all those who are directly and indirectly contributing, in anyway, to help our country to recover from this crisis. I can only encourage you to stand firm in this way that can drive our people through a long and lasting peace. The ultimate vision of our people is to get together in brotherhood and national concord the inter-Congolese political negotiations.

I can not end this address without reassuring the economic operators, be they nationals or internationals, of our good will to guarantee the real and genuine administrative and judiciary safety required by businesses and which meet all the macro-economic conditions.

Dear Compatriots,

Addressing, at last, the Congolese, I would like to remind you not to forget that you are the supreme power, I mean the source of all legitimacy. You, therefore, have the duty to resist all kinds dictatorship that compromise, at the heart of Africa, the installation of a strong and prosperous democratic state.

Once more, happy new year 2002

May God bless the Republic.

Etienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba
The UDPS National President and
Democratic Opposition Leader.