Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is making a slow but steady effort to recentralize the government's control throughout the vast central African country in a move aimed at supporting the government in national elections slated for November. After years of ineffectual governance that has resulted in sub-regions of the country acting as autonomous political entities and that has seen the country national interests ignored by foreign rivals, the Kabila-led government is exerting pressure on several points of geopolitical contention. This includes a maritime dispute with neighboring Angola, reshaping relations with the mineral-rich Katanga region and imposing mining restrictions on North and South Kivu. Imposing too aggressively on sub-national or extraterritorial interests resistant to seeing their autonomous behavior constrained could lead to a political backlash against Kabila — or even armed hostility.
