Democratic Republic of Congo (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Update on the situation in Congo

December 28, 2025:

December 28, 2025 - DRC. Update on the situation in Congo

Where opposition leader Joseph Kabila has been sentenced to death

There is no more news of Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Kabila's right-hand man

We receive from a friend of Cain, Dominique Gaillard, an update on the political situation in Congo.

"On 16 December, at 4 a.m., about 40 armed men, some in Garde Républicaine uniforms and others in civilian clothes, broke into the home of Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary in Kinshasa. According to Shadary's wife, the men, who arrived in six jeeps and a minibus, broke down the glass door of the living room and reached Shadary and his wife in the bedroom. They ordered the man to follow them, adding that they were only following orders, with no intention of harming him. Shadary got dressed, was allowed to take some medicines with him, and was seen getting into one of the jeeps.

The next day, on the evening of 17 December, Emmanuel's son Paul Ramazani was stopped by armed individuals in civilian clothes at “Le Palais” restaurant in Kinshasa, only to be released in the following hours after his mobile phones were confiscated.

Emmanuel Shadary, 65, a former Minister of the Interior in Joseph Kabila's last government, is currently the secretary of the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, and, in civilian life, a professor of political science at the University of Kinshasa.

Shadary represents an important part of DRC politics: Joseph Kabila nominated him as a presidential candidate in the 2018 elections, to which he decided not to run again. According to official figures, their coalition (FCC) came third, with just under 24% of the vote. The elections were won by the man who is still the president of Congo today, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, who was also confirmed in the 2023 elections.

To date, there is still no official news about Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, and his family has not been allowed any access or contact with him.

The government rejects the accusations of “kidnapping”, and, albeit without any official communiqué, hints that this was a “preventive” arrest, i.e. not supported by judicial orders.

The fact remains that more than 10 days after Shadary's “disappearance”, there is no official news about his judicial situation, place of detention, or possible release, and no judicial developments have been reported by the international or Congolese media. In other words: there are currently no public developments since the initial arrest/seizure. Not only are there no public developments, but everything has taken place in total silence from the media, both national and international, and there seems to have been a complete lack of interest from international politics as well.

This silence fuels a climate of fear and confirms the lack of respect for fundamental human rights, particularly with regard to political opponents, whose lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo remain extremely difficult and marked by intimidation, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances. It is deeply striking to recall that it was Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary himself who had publicly accepted the electoral defeat and participated in the official investiture ceremony of President Félix Tshisekedi, celebrating together with the entire Congolese political class what was presented as a historic victory for democracy and a “peaceful” handover in a continent marked by hundreds of coups d'état. Today, paradoxically, it seems that that same democracy has betrayed him, depriving him of his freedom without an arrest warrant, without transparency and without respect for the minimum guarantees provided by the rule of law, the same rule of law that was the main theme of the election campaign of the current President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi in 2018.

In response to this silence, Shadary's wife organised a peaceful protest rally in front of the US embassy, together with other women, to denounce the treatment of her husband and demand clarity and respect for his fundamental rights.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary's latest book, published only a few months ago, is entitled “The Political Institutions of the Third Republic: a sclerosis in the Democratic Republic of Congo” (Institutions politiques de la Troisième République, une sclérose en République Démocratique du Congo).

Dominique Gaillard