An opposition leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Monday he had been banned from leaving the country and stripped of his passport, condemning it as “intimidation” amid tensions with the government. Delly Sesanga, who heads the Envol party and is an ex-minister and former lawmaker, is a leading member of a new coalition against moves to amend the constitution paving the way to allow the president to stay in power.
“It’s intimidation and a form of arbitrariness,” Sesanga told the Agence France-Presse (AFP). “I haven’t received any information about any proceedings that may have been brought against me.” A Congolese news agency reported, citing a judicial source, that an investigation into Sesanga was underway. Sesanga said he had been injured in the legs during a recent protest and had travelled to Europe on Sunday for medical treatment.
The Constitutional Reform at the Centre of the Dispute
More than two years before the DRC next holds presidential polls, a bill on the organisation of a referendum on constitutional reform was adopted by parliament earlier this month. It could pave the way for President Félix Tshisekedi to seek a third term in office, even though his current second five-year term is due to end in December 2028 under the existing rules.
Tshisekedi first floated the idea of revising the constitution in late 2024, arguing that the current charter was largely drafted by foreign legal experts and required updating. Calls for a constitutional revision have intensified in recent weeks, with Sesanga among the sharpest critics, writing on X formerly known as Twitter: “The DRC cannot enter a new cycle of institutional tensions and the personalisation of power. All democrats must stand against this slide.”
A Crackdown Already Turned Violent
An opposition rally in the capital Kinshasa on 12 June to denounce an attempted “constitutional coup” was suppressed. Several opposition figures, including Sesanga, were wounded during clashes with pro-government activists and the police. The office of the UN human rights chief condemned the death of at least one demonstrator.
The travel ban follows a familiar pattern of restrictions on Congo’s opposition figures. Sesanga’s case adds to a string of recent reports of former ministers and opposition leaders being barred from travelling out of the DRC, citing ongoing investigations into alleged misconduct.
A Long History of Opposing Tshisekedi
Sesanga is not a new figure in Congolese opposition politics. A virulent critic of Félix Tshisekedi whose candidacy he had nevertheless supported in the 2018 election, Sesanga withdrew his own 2023 presidential bid in favour of Moïse Katumbi, joining a coalition built around four opposition candidates who met in South Africa to coordinate a unified front against the incumbent.
His latest standoff with the government arrives at a moment of heightened tension across the DRC more broadly. The eastern DRC remains gripped by conflict involving the Rwanda-backed M23 movement and the Congo River Alliance, which the US Treasury sanctioned former president Joseph Kabila over earlier this year for allegedly supporting. Against that backdrop, the question of whether Tshisekedi seeks to extend his rule through constitutional reform has become one of the most consequential political fights in the country, and Sesanga, by his own account, is now paying a personal price for being one of its loudest voices.
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