For the past 20 months, the Congo Research Group has documented the vast and eclectic business portfolio of Joseph Kabila, the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and his family. This report presents our conclusions, based almost entirely on legal documents. They own, either partially or wholly, more than

In the wake of a tragedy, it can be tempting to point fingers, establish blame, and move on. That’s what appears to be happening with the murders of UN investigators Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan. Over the past week, the New York Times has published an article highlighting the “complicity”

Last week, we published our second nationwide public opinion poll with BERCI. In contrast with the first one, where we polled over 7,500 people in person, this poll was our first attempt to conduct a telephone poll. (For the polling nerds out there, we were able to do this reliably because we

(The full report is here.) The DRC is at a crossroads. Having failed to carry out elections by the end of 2016, as required by the constitution, the government engaged in two separate rounds of negotiations, the first under the auspices of the African Union and the second brokered by

Cela s’appelle rétropédaler. Mardi 9 mai au cours de l’émission «Parole aux auditeurs » de Radio Okapi, Corneille Nangaa, président de la Commission Electorale Nationale Indépendante (CENI) n’avait pas d’autre choix que de déployer un plaidoyer pro domo pathétique afin d’éviter d’être celui par lequel le scandale était susceptible d’arriver. Face

If political elite opinion is anything to go by, free and fair elections may not happen any time soon in the Congo. Today, the government of prime minister Bruno Tshibala was announced, and it included several former opposition stalwarts who had been holding out for years against Kabila. Now, as the opposition

Pour peu qu’on jette un regard devant et qu’on s’interroge sur l’avenir de la République démocratique du Congo, le brouillard le plus épais est l’horizon le plus immédiat. Tout se passe en effet comme si aucune solution n’est envisageable, sauf si elle réside dans la multiplication des tragédies humaines jetant

The New Year’s Eve deal between the opposition and the government was made possible by a rare trifecta: concurrent pressure by Congolese in the streets, a relatively united political elite, and a hawkish donor community. Now, however, the New Year’s Eve deal is being unraveled by the nomination of Bruno

Plusieurs commentateurs à Kinshasa tentent encore de décrypter le message qui se dégage des deux derniers déplacements de Joseph Kabila à l’étranger. Le chef de l’Etat congolais longtemps resté recroquevillé sur lui-même, pour ne pas dire isolé, a surpris ses compatriotes en se rendant le week-end dernier en Egypte puis

Is the New Years’ Eve deal dead? In the final hours of 2016, the Catholic bishops had brokered an agreement between the Congolese opposition and President Kabila’s negotiators, forging a unity government led by the opposition and an oversight committee (the Comité nationale pour de suivi de l’accord, CNSA) also led by