Despite being scorned as a member of the regime by the Zairean rebels, Etienne Tshisekedi has strong support from the people, reports Chris McGreal
AS Zaire’s rebels brace for their assault on Kinshasa and final victory, they must also resolve whether to draw Mobutu Sese Seko’s long-standing political rivals into the revolution or shove them aside in favour of the new order. The rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, says he intends to suppress party politics for now – much as one of his principal backers, Uganda, has done during its much vaunted reconstruction.
Mobutu’s political opponents, led by Etienne Tshisekedi, are horrified. The 64- year-old former prime minister and his allies claim to have played as crucial a role as the rebels in the transformation of Zaire, and demand a leading say in the future. One of Tshisekedi’s aides, Mukendi wa Muludba, even insists that once the rebels win the war they should step aside in favour of the traditional political class.
“[Kabila] must respect our way of non- violence. Zaireans have died for the institutional order we have struggled for 20 years to achieve,” he said. The opposition backs its claim to being a powerful force by pointing to last week’s “dead city” strike which shut Kinshasa down for a day in protest at Mobutu’s dismissal of Tshisekedi as prime minister within a week of his appointment. But the ease with which the army was able to discourage street protests suggests the opposition is still unable to galvanise public dissent to confront the regime.
The rebels are scornful. At best, they view Tshisekedi as Mobutu’s useful fool. At worst, they see him as in collusion. Kabila accuses politicians of impotence and corruption. The rebels wonder aloud what Tshisekedi has achieved in the seven years since Mobutu was pressured into promising a multi-party democracy. There have been many “dead city” strikes, with little enduring impact. And, until the civil war, Mobutu appeared to have every chance of engineering an election victory amid opposition division and incompetence.
But it was Tshisekedi’s willingness to accept his short-lived appointment as prime minister earlier this month which sealed the rebels’ contempt. Although technically nominated by Parliament, Mobutu had to confirm the choice. And although Tshisekedi accepted in the hope of using the office as a means to strip the president of power – as well as offering the rebels six seats in the Cabinet – the insurgents were dismissive. One of their leaders, Raphael Nghenda, scorned the new prime minister as a member of the regime.
Yet Tshisekedi remains a force to be reckoned with in Kinshasa. An opinion poll last month showed that more than half the population of the capital has a good opinion of Kabila, but only a fraction would vote for him. More than one-third backed Tshisekedi for president. Tshisekedi, the first Zairean to graduate as a lawyer, is known as “the sphinx”. Some say it is because he is a quietly shrewd strategist who keeps his own counsel. Others suggest it is because he is a far from courageous individual paralysed into inaction, beside having a reputation for spending an inordinate amount of time in bed. He is certainly no Boris Yeltsin, ready to storm the barricades against a greater tyranny.
Tshisekedi has one thing in common with his more powerful rivals – an authoritarian style which demands unquestioning obedience from his supporters. After he was dismissed as prime minister first time around, Tshisekedi continued to insist on being addressed as “excellency” and held weekly “Cabinet meetings” at his house.
Many of the city’s poorer residents have forgiven Tshisekedi his past role in helping to entrench the Mobutu dictatorship as a Cabinet minister and key member of the only political party then permitted. For them, Tshisekedi redeemed himself in 1980 when he put his name to a 52-page letter condemning dictatorship and calling for democratic reform.
While other signatories were bought by Mobutu, Tshisekedi kept up his opposition. He was banished to prison for forming the Union for Democracy and Social Progress while political parties were banned.
Mobutu was finally forced to bow to demands for a multi-party system in 1990. A year later, Tshisekedi was named prime minister. He didn’t last long on that occasion either. Mobutu dismissed him for challenging the president’s supremacy over the Constitution.
Parliament twice again appointed Tshisekedi as prime minister. And Mobutu twice rid himself of his foe by proving more adept at running rings around opponents.
But for all the noise in Kinshasa over Tshisekedi’s maltreatment by the regime, it barely made a dent in other parts of Zaire where he is deeply loathed. And while the young men on the capital’s streets may continue to promise open defiance of the rebels if they fail to take Tshisekedi on board, there is no sign they are prepared to seriously confront Kabila any more than they were Mobutu.