05 05 14 NYT -U.S. Urges Congo Leader Not to Run for Third Term

There
has been speculation among the political opposition that President
Joseph Kabila, who has been in office since 2001, might seek to have the
Constitution amended so that he could run for a third term in office.

“Clearly,
the United States believes that a country is strengthened, that people
have respect for their nation and their government, when a
constitutional process is properly implemented and upheld by that
government,” Mr. Kerry said in a news conference here.

“He has an opportunity, which he understands, to be able to put the country on a continued path to democracy,” he added.

It
was not clear how hard Mr. Kerry pressed his case in his closed-door
meeting Sunday morning with Mr. Kabila at his white marble presidential
palace. But Russell D. Feingold, the American special envoy for the
region, was more explicit in a briefing for reporters Sunday morning.

“The
people of this country have a right to have their Constitution
respected,” Mr. Feingold said. “The Constitution here provides for two
terms.”

Mr. Kabila had no comment on the American statements and has not said whether he might seek to have the Constitution changed.

Mr.
Kerry, who has promoted the importance of democratic values during a
swing through Africa, also took up security issues during his meeting
with Mr. Kabila.

One
of the chief rebel groups that Mr. Kabila has faced, the M23 militia,
ordered its fighters to lay down their arms last year after suffering a
series of military setbacks and after Rwanda, under pressure from the
United States, curtailed its support for the group. A peace agreement
was signed in December in Nairobi, Kenya.

But
some 2,000 members of the group fled to Rwanda and Uganda. Congo wants
them to return so that it can either reintegrate them into the
government under an amnesty or put some on trial for war crimes. A
senior State Department official traveling with Mr. Kerry asserted that
Rwanda and Uganda still supported their return but that Mr. Kabila’s
government had been slow to carry out the agreement.

The
United States also wants Mr. Kabila to pursue the Allied Democratic
Force, a militia that originated in Uganda, and the Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda, whose members have been linked to the
genocide in Rwanda. The latter group is known as the F.D.L.R., for the
initials of its French name.

“The
top priority is going after the F.D.L.R.,” Mr. Feingold said. “The
planning has been done. But President Kabila needs to give the green
light to say it is time to take them on militarily.”

Mr.
Kerry said after his meeting with Mr. Kabila that the president had a
schedule for launching the offensive, but Mr. Kerry declined to discuss

it.

Mr.
Kabila became president after his father was assassinated. He was
elected in 2006 in a vote that Mr. Feingold said was fair. But the
Constitution was changed so that Mr. Kabila could run for a second term
five years later.

“Unfortunately,
in 2011, it was a different story,” Mr. Feingold added. “The
international community witnessed an election that lacked the indices of
free, fair and transparent elections, and was largely regarded as
flawed, as some people in the country claim it was rigged.”

Mr.
Kerry said the United States would contribute $30 million to help Congo
hold elections. Much of the money will be provided to nongovernmental
organizations, but some $2 million will probably be provided to the
nation’s electoral commission.

Mr.
Kerry arrived here after visiting Ethiopia and South Sudan. He plans to
finish his trip with talks in Angola with President José Eduardo dos
Santos.

In
a generally upbeat speech on Africa policy on Saturday in Addis Ababa,
Mr. Kerry said the conflicts in South Sudan, the Central African
Republic, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo were plunging much
of the continent into turmoil and casting a cloud over its economic
potential.

Mr.
Kerry described the recent kidnapping of schoolgirls by Boko Haram, a
Nigerian terrorist group, as an “unconscionable crime” and said the
United States would help the Nigerian government “return these young
women to their homes.”

A
senior State Department official, however, said later that Mr. Kerry
had been referring to continuing programs to help Nigeria improve its
security organizations and had not suggested that the United States
would play a role in operations to find and free the schoolgirls.

Underscoring
the political theme he would take up again here, Mr. Kerry said in the
speech on Saturday that there would be 15 presidential elections in
Africa over the next three years.

“The nations in Africa,” he said, “are strongest when citizens have a say.”