Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been sworn in for a second five-year term after a landslide victory his opponents have refused to recognise owing to widespread irregularities in the December general election.
Authorities have acknowledged there were problems but dismissed allegations the vote was stolen. The fractious standoff echoes previous electoral disputes that fuelled unrest in Africa’s second-largest country, with protests breaking out on Saturday in two eastern cities.
Tshisekedi took the oath of office in the capital, Kinshasa, at a stadium packed with flag-waving supporters, government officials, African heads of state and foreign envoys including from the US, China and France.
In a speech, he acknowledged the country’s hopes of better living conditions and economic opportunities. About 62% of Congo’s 100 million people live on less than a dollar a day.
“I am aware of your expectations,” he said. “A goal of this new five-year term is to create more jobs.”
He also promised “a profound restructuring of our security and defence apparatus” and further diplomatic efforts to address the long-running security crisis in the DRC’s eastern provinces.
Choirs singing the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah, marching military bands, and a 21-cannon salute marked his inauguration.
With armed military police deployed throughout the capital, there was no immediate sign that opposition supporters had heeded a call from two of Tshisekedi’s main opponents to protest against his re-election.
In the eastern city of Beni, protesters set up makeshift barricades in the early hours and burned tyres – a demonstration that police dispersed without major incident. Similar small-scale protests broke out in the eastern city of Goma and other urban centres, but were contained by the mass deployment of security forces.
Congo’s largest election-monitoring group, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), this week called the presidential and legislative polls an “electoral catastrophe”, citing its own observations of fraud, mishandling of election materials, parallel voting and other issues.
The country’s electoral commission has said such infractions were limited in scale and did not affect the outcome of the elections, which they say were ultimately free and fair.
Many African and western countries, wary that the dispute could further destabilise a globally important mineral exporter, have recognised Tshisekedi’s victory since the DRC’s highest court dismissed official challenges.
“We deplore the indifference and astonishing complacency of international diplomacy,” said the opposition presidential candidate and Nobel peace prize-winning gynaecologist Denis Mukwege in a statement on Saturday.
He and Tshisekedi’s main challengers, including Moïse Katumbi and Martin Fayulu, have refused to contest the results in court over the alleged lack of independence of state institutions. The government has rejected their demand for a full rerun of the vote.