On Sunday, the Congo should read elect a new President. That Joseph Kabila will not stand for election, is also the merit of the new movement of La Lucha. Kossivi Tiassou has taken some of the activists.
Berlin, June 2018: The Ecumenical network Central Africa La Lucha “” with his peace prize as “an important ray of light”, for the commitment to democracy and free elections. Fred Bauma and Rebecca Kabuo accept the award on behalf of the Congolese youth movement. They dedicate the award to “all those caught in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in uncertainty, the women and young girls are raped”, but also “to all those who continue to believe in a peaceful future for the Congo.”
Fred Bauma
Less than a week later, Luc Nkulula, one of the leaders of the movement killed in a fire at his home in Goma in Eastern Congo. For the authorities it is an accident. Members and Lucha members speak of arson and murder. In the movement you want to let the perceived threat is not to be discouraged. “A life without fear is in Goma is difficult to imagine,” says Fred Bauma. “The Key is to overcome that fear.”
A battle begins
The history of La Luchas begins in March 2012 in a Restaurant in Goma. Micheline Mwendike, at the time, the lobby work for an international NGO, gathered a handful of young people, to talk about the everyday hardships of the people in your city and in the province of North Kivu. “We decided to take measures for the access to clean drinking water,” recalls Mwendike. The Name of the organization is a word game: Lucha, the Spanish word for fight, is a French abbreviation for “fight for change”.
Rebecca Kabuo
The team spirit of the young movement quickly drew others into its spell. La Lucha have a lot of want to do differently, says Rebecca Kabuo: “together We have created a movement in which there is no Chairman, but a United leadership. We approach problems together and to act according to consensus.” Soon the group gained over Goma, the importance of the movement. In other cities, independently operating groups were founded. So, La Lucha was also on the Radar of the authorities in the capital Kinshasa: the Congolese youth movement and their peaceful protests identified, the stronger the suppression, by the government. Fred Bauma, Rebecca Kabuo and other members of the group were arrested. Bauma spent 18 months in prison.
International Recognition
In spite of all the repression, the Lucha stand-activists pursue their goals. Socio-economic issues such as drinking water and power supply were initially in the foreground, the new organization soon, the government as the cause for the deadlock and called for the resignation of President Joseph Kabila. Also, the ongoing uncertainty in the country denounced it. They organized mass demonstrations, until, finally, members of the movement, Kabila met in person, to convey to him the frustration of the young people personally. To choke “instead of the movement, has strengthened the state’s suppression of La Lucha,” says political scientist Donatella Rostagno, expert for the Region of the Great lakes.
2016 members of Lucha protested in front of the Governor’s office in Goma against the postponement of the elections
And you got the organization’s attention abroad. Georg Schmidt, head of the Department of sub-Saharan Africa in the Federal foreign office sees them as an indicator of the mood in the country: “If I speak with La Lucha and other activists in the country, they tell me of their Concerns about the high number of internal refugees.” Germany work today, much more intense with grassroots non-governmental structures, so Schmidt.
On Sunday (23.12.2018) should be chosen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. La Lucha is once again mobilising its members. But the great enemy is Joseph Kabila. The current President has bowed to Public pressure and a renewed candidacy waived.