Will he, won’t he?

ON THE streets of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the backfiring of an old car sounded like a gunshot. “It’s Burkina!” yelled a woman, referring jovially to recent riots in Burkina Faso, which led to the downfall of its president, Blaise Compaoré, after 27 years in power. Laughter erupted from the crowd around her. The second and final five-year term of Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila (pictured), is supposed to end in 2016. But most people think he will try to extend his stay, just as Mr Compaoré did.

That would have equally baleful consequences, says Vital Kamerhe, who finished third in the country’s presidential election last time around and plans to run again, if the constitution is upheld. “Burkina is a lesson for us,” he says. So was Congo’s own experience of a leader-for-life, Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled for 32 years until 1997. By the time he was ousted, he had enriched himself but wrecked the country, now numbering 68m people. A decade of bloody chaos ensued.