Democratic Republic of Congo’s new President Felix Tshisekedi will reportedly head to the United States of America next month between April 3 and 5 in his first diplomatic visit outside the continent.
The U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino on Tuesday confirmed Tshisekedi will hold meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other senior cabinet officials in the Trump administration to discuss cooperation efforts between the two countries relating to a number of issues. The DRC President will also address American business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on April 3.
“We share President Tshisekedi’s interest in developing a strong partnership between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Palladino told a briefing, reported AllAfrica.
He added efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the violence-plagued eastern region of Congo would also be discussed. According to health data released by DRC’s health ministry, the country’s Ebola epidemic has now exceeded 1,000 cases, with a death toll of about 629 in the world’s second-worst ever outbreak.
It currently remains unclear whether he will meet with President Donald Trump.
Notably, the US government had previously imposed travel and visa curbs against six DRC officials. Three of them were recently sanctioned on corruption charges tied to the long-delayed presidential election. They have been accused of misappropriating funds that were supposed to be used to conduct a Presidential election in December 2016. The voting was forced to be postponed until December 2018.
Tshisekedi was declared as the DRC’s new President after the December polls which marked the first-ever peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. He was declared the election winner despite widespread concerns by the international community over the outcome of the contentious election.
While the sanctions have targeted the country’s electoral commission chief and advisors, Washington has ceased questioning the legitimacy of Tshisekedi’s victory.
