DR Congo opposition urges halt to constitution changes

A leading opposition figure in the Democratic Republic of Congo urged President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday to abandon proposed constitutional changes that could open the way for him to seek a third term.

Delly Sesanga, president of the ENVOL party and a member of the C64 opposition coalition, said a country at war should not make changing the constitution a priority.

Tshisekedi, 63, has been in power since 2019. His second and final five-year term is due to end in 2028. Elections are two years away, but tensions have risen since the ruling-party-majority parliament approved a proposal to extend the presidential mandate.

Tshisekedi has not decided whether to pass the bill into law. Earlier this month, he sent back to the national assembly for review a widely criticised draft law easing conditions for organising referendums, after the Constitutional Court approved it in late July.

Sesanga called that move insufficient and urged Tshisekedi and the presidential-majority assembly to definitively abandon the project.

C64 organisers postponed demonstrations planned for mid-August until September 15. Sesanga rejected suggestions of division in the opposition and said opponents were speaking with one voice.

The debate comes as conflict continues in much of the country, especially in the east, where the M23 armed group seized swathes of territory last year. Sesanga has called for M23 to join a national dialogue to support peace and reunification, but Congolese authorities have refused.

Millions of voters in North Kivu and South Kivu, whose capitals fell to M23 in January 2025, could be prevented from voting in the 2028 presidential election. Sesanga said no serious Congolese would accept an election without those provinces.

On Sunday, the Swiss government announced that DR Congo and M23 had agreed to a fresh roadmap for peace talks, in another attempt to declare a ceasefire after earlier peace accords failed and fighting continued on the ground.