Kolelas says dialogue needed for legitimacy

Exiled former prime minister has said the Congolese government no longer has legitimacy and called for an urgent “inclusive national dialogue, which would lead to the installation of legitimate institutions”. Kolelas, president of the opposition L’espace republicain pour la defense de la democratie et de l’unite nationale (ERDDUN), said in a press statement received by IRIN on Monday that the passing of 24 October meant the end of the government’s three-year transitional period [provided for in the Fundamental Act of 24 October 1997], and put the state in “a juridical void.” Without legitimacy, the Congolese authorities could not in law or with any moral right undertake engagements at the international level, and their continued exercise of power would have “catastrophic effects on the country,” Kolelas said. There was only one way out of this situation: the organisation as soon as possible of a national dialogue on the country’s political future, as called for by all the people of the country as well as 99 percent of the Congolese political class in exile and within the state, he added.