DR Congo announces new government after months of delay

By Byobe Malenga

KINSHASA, DRC (AA) - The Democratic Republic of Congo announced a new government on Wednesday, ending more than five months of political uncertainty since the reelection of President Felix Tshisekedi.

The new Cabinet is composed of 54 ministers versus 57 in the last government, including Prime Minister Judith Sumonwa Tuluka, Congo's first female prime minister who was appointed in early April.

At the Interior Ministry, the president appointed Jacquemain Shabani, his strongman former electoral campaign director who was already his main adviser on political and electoral matters.

Constant Mutamba, leader of the Congo Dynamic Progressive Revolutionary Opposition platform, was appointed justice minister, while Jean-Piere Bemba was replaced at the Defense Ministry by Guy Kabombo.

At the Foreign Ministry, Tshisekedi appointed a woman, Therese Kayiwamba, who replaced Christophe Lutundula.

Kizito Kapinga was appointed to the Mines Ministry, in charge of the Central African country's globally significant reserves of coltan, copper, and other minerals.

The new government that has 16 women ministers came after more than five months of negotiations between new allies of the president, who control the parliament with 95% of National Assembly seats since the last election in December 2023.

The army claimed last week to have foiled a coup attempt in the capital Kinshasa, arresting several people involved in the plot.

The government's immediate tasks include ending the M23 rebellion in the volatile east and improving the living conditions of ordinary citizens who live on less than $2 a day.