DR Congo Opposition Delays Protests as the AU Steps In
DR CONGO · POLITICS
Key Facts
—The pause: DR Congo’s opposition alliance C64 pushed its protests back to July 22. The African Union’s chair offered to broker talks.
—The mediator: Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye stepped in as AU chair to open talks between the two sides.
—The dispute: C64 says President Félix Tshisekedi wants a referendum to remove term limits and seek a third term — a charge the government denies.
—The trigger: In June, parliament passed a law creating the legal framework for a referendum that could change the constitution.
—The coalition: C64 is named for Article 64, the clause on resisting illegal grabs for power. It includes Martin Fayulu, Moïse Katumbi, Jean-Marc Kabund and Delly Sesanga.
The DR Congo protests against a proposed referendum on the constitution have moved to July 22. Burundi’s president, Évariste Ndayishimiye, chairs the African Union, and he offered to broker talks between the opposition and President Tshisekedi’s government.
Why the DR Congo protests were called off, for now
The C64 alliance had called for marches across the country, and it calls the referendum a drive to rewrite the constitution. This week it moved the date to July 22, to give the African Union effort a chance.
The pause is a tactic, not a retreat. Coalition figures say the delay should press the government to talk, while the protest threat stays in reserve.
The marches were expected to test the streets of Kinshasa and other big cities. Protests over the constitution have turned deadly in Congo before, and that history raises the stakes of every protest date.
What the opposition alleges
C64 takes its name from Article 64 of the constitution, which gives citizens the right to resist any illegal grab for power. The coalition’s leaders include Martin Fayulu, Moïse Katumbi, Jean-Marc Kabund and Delly Sesanga, all veterans of the trade.
The name itself is the argument. By pointing to the resistance clause, the coalition casts the referendum fight as self-defence, not party politics.
The coalition calls the proposed reform a “constitutional coup”, and it says the referendum exists to lift term limits. That would let Tshisekedi, first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, run a third time.
Its ranks carry weight. Fayulu says he won the disputed 2018 vote, while Katumbi, a mining-province governor turned business magnate, finished second in 2023. Together they make C64 the broadest rival front of Tshisekedi’s second term.
The government’s answer
The government denies any third-term plan. Parliament adopted the referendum framework in June, and officials call it a sovereign update of the charter. Its content is not yet decided.
The current constitution has been in force since 2006. It limits presidents to two terms and guards that clause deeply. Touching it was always going to be explosive in a country with no history of peaceful charter change.
Tshisekedi himself has asked in public whether a charter drafted under heavy foreign watch still serves the country. Critics heard the opening bars of a term-limits fight in those words, well before parliament acted.
The AU steps in
The African Union has struggled to matter in recent crises, from the Sahel coups to Sudan’s war. A visible win in Kinshasa would be worth a great deal to it.
Ndayishimiye’s involvement gives both sides a ladder to climb down. As African Union chair, the Burundian president can call talks without either camp giving ground first, according to reporting carried by allAfrica on the postponement.
Burundi is a neighbour with skin in the game. Its soldiers have fought beside Kinshasa’s army against rebels in the east. That closeness gives the mediator pull, and it gives C64 reason to question his neutrality.
Will the talks produce a real deal before July 22? That is the open question, and the coalition treats the new date as a deadline as much as a delay.
Why it matters for investors
DR Congo is the world’s top cobalt producer and a major copper source. Its capital flows — from the Lobito corridor to new port and fibre projects — depend on political calm holding, and a long crisis over the charter would put all of it at risk.
Chinese fibre lines, Emirati ports and Western mineral corridors all bet on a state that holds together. Investors have learned to read Congolese protest calendars as closely as commodity charts.
The eastern war adds to the risk. The M23 conflict already ties down the army and the country’s diplomats, and a charter fight in the capital would open a second front the state can ill afford.
For now the referendum has no date and no text. There is only a legal framework, a wary opposition and two weeks for the talks to work.
The pattern runs across the continent, and 2026 has already produced a wave of term-limit fights, most recently in Zimbabwe. How Kinshasa’s standoff ends will echo well beyond the Congo River.
More: DR Congo news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why were the DR Congo protests postponed?
The C64 opposition coalition moved its protests to July 22, 2026. Burundi’s president, who chairs the African Union, offered to broker talks between the two sides.
What is the C64 coalition?
It is a Congolese opposition alliance named for Article 64 of the constitution. That article gives citizens the right to resist illegal grabs for power. Its leaders include Martin Fayulu, Moïse Katumbi, Jean-Marc Kabund and Delly Sesanga.
What does the opposition accuse President Tshisekedi of?
C64 says the proposed referendum is built to remove term limits and give Tshisekedi a third term. It calls the plan a “constitutional coup”. The government denies seeking one.
What happens next in DR Congo?
African Union-brokered talks are expected before July 22, the new protest date. Parliament passed the legal framework in June, but no referendum has a date yet.
Connected Coverage
The stakes ride on DR Congo’s economic build-out, which The Rio Times has tracked closely: a $1.5 billion fibre line along the Congo River, the country’s first deep-water Atlantic port at Banana, and a region where street pressure — as in Kenya’s Saba Saba protests — increasingly shapes politics.
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