Guy Tillim

Congo Democratic, 2006

  • Democratic Lumumbiste Party activist with megaphone, suburban Kinshasa, 2006
    Democratic Lumumbiste Party activist with megaphone, suburban Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Joseph Kabila election campaign billboard, Kinshasa, 2006
    Joseph Kabila election campaign billboard, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Lumumbiste Party meeting and the street outside at a cell headquarters in a Kinshasa suburb, 2006
    Lumumbiste Party meeting and the street outside at a cell headquarters in a Kinshasa suburb, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Followers of Etienne Tshisikedi, calling for a boycott of the elections, burn a Kabila election billboard, central Kinshasa, 2006
    Followers of Etienne Tshisikedi, calling for a boycott of the elections, burn a Kabila election billboard, central Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • A political election meeting takes place in a Kinshasa suburb, and election posters on poles in the street outside the home, 2006
    A political election meeting takes place in a Kinshasa suburb, and election posters on poles in the street outside the home, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Protesters, supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi, calling for a boycott of the elections, Kinshasa, 2006
    Protesters, supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi, calling for a boycott of the elections, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Lumumbiste Party activist at a meeting and the street outside, Kinshasa, 2006
    Lumumbiste Party activist at a meeting and the street outside, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi calling for a boycott of the election are dispersed by police, Kinshasa, 2006
    Supporters of Etienne Tshisekedi calling for a boycott of the election are dispersed by police, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Lumumbiste Party supporters prepare for a meeting, pinning up pictures of Patrice Lumumba and their leader Antoine Gizenga, who was a deputy to Lumumba after the first elections in 1962, 2006
    Lumumbiste Party supporters prepare for a meeting, pinning up pictures of Patrice Lumumba and their leader Antoine Gizenga, who was a deputy to Lumumba after the first elections in 1962, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • National Assembly candidate Adam Bombole, close associate of Jean-Pierre Bemba, greets his family as he leaves for work in the morning. The gate to his residence (right)., 2006
    National Assembly candidate Adam Bombole, close associate of Jean-Pierre Bemba, greets his family as he leaves for work in the morning. The gate to his residence (right)., 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba mock President Kabila, calling him an egg seller (in reference to Kabila's statement that he could not take part in early election debates because he was balancing the delicate affairs of state on his head, as an egg seller would balance his wares), 2006
    Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba mock President Kabila, calling him an egg seller (in reference to Kabila's statement that he could not take part in early election debates because he was balancing the delicate affairs of state on his head, as an egg seller would balance his wares), 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba enters a stadium in central Kinshasa flanked by his bodyguards, 2006
    Presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba enters a stadium in central Kinshasa flanked by his bodyguards, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba line the road as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba line the road as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • A statue of Patrice Lumumba erected by Laurent Kabila, and an unfinished tower built during the Mobutu years, look down on Jean-Pierre Bemba supporters as they make their way to a rally, Kinshasa, 2006
    A statue of Patrice Lumumba erected by Laurent Kabila, and an unfinished tower built during the Mobutu years, look down on Jean-Pierre Bemba supporters as they make their way to a rally, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • A traditional dancer and crowd salute Jean-Pierre Bemba as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    A traditional dancer and crowd salute Jean-Pierre Bemba as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba line the road as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba line the road as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Voting station under construction by the UN the day before the election, Kinshasa, 2006
    Voting station under construction by the UN the day before the election, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Voting, Kinshasa, 2006
    Voting, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba line the road as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    Supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba line the road as he walks to a rally from the airport, Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • A sawmill worker poses outside a political meeting, suburban Kinshasa, 2006
    A sawmill worker poses outside a political meeting, suburban Kinshasa, 2006
    archival pigment ink on 300g cotton paper, 91 × 133 cm
    edition of 5 + 1 AP

Successive wars in the Congo, one beginning in 1996 and the other in 1998, have left the country devastated. After five years of combat, and an estimated 3.5 million mainly civilian deaths, an agreement was reached in 2003 that called for general elections and a new constitution by 2005. In July 2006 some 3 400 candidates came forth to contest the 500 seats in the house of assembly, 800 on the ballot in Kinshasa. There were 33 presidential candidates. The ballot was an amazing six-page poster-size document with pen pictures of all the candidates that were hard to recognise. The campaign sloganeering and banners did not say “Vote Adam Bombole, Health for All”, for example, but “Vote Adam Bombole, page 3 No. 438”.

Etienne Tshisikedi, a veteran former minister under Mobutu Sese Seko, had called for a boycott of the elections. Young men in Kinshasa fought battles with police in his name as they tore down and burned election paraphernalia, directing special hostility at the visage of President Josef Kabila, who was running as an independent, though listed as an “initiator” of the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy which chose him as their candidate.

I asked a Congolese friend if he had a theory about the large number of candidates. “Visibility is everything,” he told me. “Get yourself on a list, so when the next thing happens, perhaps a peace agreement where power and influence are divided up, you will be on it somewhere.” Kabila and his main rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, who have been at war with each other and control separate armies now barracked in Kinshasa, have unofficially divided up these spoils for years.

The Kinshasa streets mirrored the political wasteland and civic disorder that resulted from the war between these two men. But there is a good chance that $450 million, spent mostly by the European Union on the election, will transform this rivalry into a constitutional debate. (Guy Tillim)

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