Understanding Kabila’s power play, as DRC militia leader chairs Snel

There was another chilly dose of reality from the tropics for the growing number of donors and policy-makers looking to Democratic Republic of Congo’s extravagant endowment of natural resources, including hydropower capacity, to help southern/central Africa to overcome its now chronic power shortages, when in mid-January former militia leader Eugène Serufuli was appointed chairman of Société Nationale d’Electricité (Snel)’s managing board. This controversial decision had little to do with rehabilitating gensets or getting more of Kinshasa, not to mention the rest of this sprawling country, electrified. It said much for the balance of forces in DRC, as President Joseph Kabila consolidates power, one year on from his election victory.