Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila made a long-anticipated public call on Saturday for a national dialogue to prepare for elections next year, an idea regarded with suspicion by his opponents, according to Reuters. A successful presidential election in 2016 would mark Congo's first-ever peaceful transition of power after decades of autocratic rule and civil conflict since independence from Belgium in 1960. In an address to the nation, Kabila announced the creation of a preparatory committee but did not specify who would serve on it, nor when the dialogue itself would begin. "I have decided on this day to convoke an inclusive national political dialogue and the subsequent implementation of a preparatory committee to address all aspects linked to its organization," Kabila said in a pre-recorded speech aired on state-run television on Saturday evening. The idea of a national dialogue has been praised by the ruling majority as crucial to ensuring that upcoming elections go smoothly but dismissed by most opponents as part of a strategy by Kabila to hang onto power beyond the end of his second and final mandate next year. Having taken power in 2001 after the assassination of his father, President Laurent Kabila, and won disputed elections in 2006 and 2011, he is barred by the constitution from standing for a third term.
