{"id":44003,"date":"2026-08-28T11:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=44003"},"modified":"2026-08-28T11:58:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:58:06","slug":"drcs-president-calls-for-national-dialogue-to-ease-tensions-rebels-excluded","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/drcs-president-calls-for-national-dialogue-to-ease-tensions-rebels-excluded\/","title":{"rendered":"DRC&#8217;s President calls for national dialogue to ease tensions, rebels excluded"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has unveiled plans for a national dialogue aimed at easing political tensions, which have \u200brisen over a bill that critics say could pave the way for \u200chim to seek a third term.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The dialogue will begin with consultations across DRC&#8217;s 26 Provinces before culminating in national talks in the capital Kinshasa, Tshisekedi said in \u200ban address broadcast on state television late on Thursday.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Armed groups and \u200bthose acting on behalf of foreign powers would not be \u2060allowed to participate, Tshisekedi said, explicitly ruling out Rwanda-backed AFC\/M23 rebels \u200bwho control large swathes of eastern DRC.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Participants will include political parties, civil society \u200bgroups, religious leaders, traditional authorities, business representatives, academics, youth and women&#8217;s organisations and members of the Congolese diaspora, the President\u00a0said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Dates and conditions of the process will be \u200bannounced at a later stage, with the process lasting no more \u200bthan three months.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Political tension has risen in the mineral-rich country over the bill adopted in June \u200cthat \u2060would allow constitutional changes to be submitted to a referendum.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Tshisekedi&#8217;s supporters have openly called for constitutional reforms to allow him to run again. He said earlier this year he would accept another mandate if the Congolese people \u200bwanted it.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>DRC&#8217;s constitution \u200blimits presidents to \u2060two five-year terms. Tshisekedi was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2023, with his current term due \u200bto end in 2028.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22455,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-44003","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44004,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44003\/revisions\/44004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}