[BIOGRAPHY] – Etienne Tshisekedi, whom some affectionately called « Ya Tshitshi », the father of democracy, the sphinx of Limete, was a great rallyer. A mythical and historical opponent. But who was he? What was his political background and impact on the DRC?

Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba, was born in Kananga on December 14, 1932, then Luluabourg in the Belgian Congo. He is the first law graduate in the country. Already in 1960, he was a member of the College of Commissioners-General, a provisional government set up by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu after a coup d’etat, as assistant to the Commissioner for Justice, Marcel Lihau.

Political career
Tshisekedi was first close to former President Mobutu between 1960 and 1965. Then, he opposed the dictatorial regime of Mobutu in 1980, when it weakened after the wars of Shaba (dismembered Katanga province). ).

In 1982, Tshisekedi is an initiator and one of the founders of the UDPS. With the advent of the democratic transition, he successively occupied the post of Prime Minister of Zaire from 29 September to 1 October 1991, from 15 August 1992 to 18 March 1993 and from 02 to 09 April 1997.

The advent of the AFDL with Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila in May 1997 will not prevent him from continuing his fight for democracy. For having violated the decision of Mobutu’s rapper on the prohibition of the activities of political parties, Etienne Tshisekedi will receive, in 1998, an authoritarian sanction of the new President of the Republic. It will be his relegation to his home village in Kabeya Kamwanga with equipment and seeds to start farming.

At the end of the second Congo war (1998-2003), Étienne Tshisekedi, who has always advocated non-violent political struggle, refuses to participate in the transitional government and has since been playing the role of the irreducible opponent. Consequence: boycott of the constitutional referendum of 2005 and the elections of 2006.

What to understand that his opposition did not stop at the practices decried of Mobutu. It extended to those of Kabila’s father and son regime.

On December 23, 2011, after the presidential election, Tshisekedi who came second, claimed victory, and proclaimed himself President of the Republic to swear an oath from his residence in Limete Kinshasa.

The illness was right for this great politician. In July 2014, Tshisekedi left the DRC for Belgium for health problems. His medico-political exile ends in 2016 and he is greeted triumphantly by the people in Kinshasa.

It’s the eve of the elections. Political negotiations are linked to a second term of Joseph Kabila. With the failure of pre-negotiations with the presidential camp, Tshisekedi will refuse to participate in September 2016 in the national dialogue. It took the Congolese Catholic bishops to take the hand to finally accept to participate in direct talks with the Kinshasa regime.

The conclusion of the political agreement of the New Year’s Eve consecrates the appointment of Etienne Tshisekedi as president of the National Council of follow-up of the agreement (CNSA), charged in particular to supervise the smooth running of the electoral process in progress. Because, the presidential 2016 has been postponed.

Patriarch Tshisekedi dies on February 1, 2017 of a pulmonary embolism, without having been invested in his last functions.

Two years after his death, funerals worthy of his rank are organized. Congolese remember him as one who has long fought for democracy in the DRC.
His soul can finally rest in peace!

Nadine FULA