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Vol 67 No 7

Published 3rd April 2026


Congo-Kinshasa

Tshisekedi purge ahead of term limit test

With the Senate’s last dissident sidelined and the US focused on minerals, Tshisekedi’s third-term bid is advancing

When Modeste Bahati Lukwebo was hustled from the Senate Vice-Presidency on 18 March, accused of fiscal fraud tied to a brewery in Kivu-Sud, few in Kinshasa’s political class doubted what the charges were about. Bahati had refused to back President Félix Tshisekedi’s push to amend the constitution and remove presidential term limits – a stance that has proved fatal to political careers across the capital since the president began clearing the field. With the United States government absorbed by the more pressing business of securing Congolese cobalt and copper, and China unlikely to raise objections, the most serious resistance may come from the volatile and unbiddable citoyens of Kinshasa.

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