The African Security Initiative at the Brookings  Institute organized an event on October 11^th to talk about what many believe may be the most important moment in the history of Democratic Republic of Congo: the elections schedule for December 23^rd. Three experts on the DRC were invited to deliberate on the country’s core and exterior security challenges and to share their perspective views on the potential for a transformative vote.

With its President not running again, the DCR is on the threshold of witnessing a political change with change a certainty no matter who wins. Some more info on the event according to the invite:

In December, the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will head to the polls to elect a successor to long-time President Joseph Kabila. Security remains at the forefront of the DRC’s challenges, with 600,000 Congolese having been forced to flee to neighboring countries amidst protracted internal conflicts.

While there are deep concerns about whether December’s elections will be free and fair, the next administration will tackle a large slate of economic, social, political, and security challenges, including ongoing armed intervention by some of the country’s neighbors.

The program was moderated by Brookings Senior Fellow Michael O’Hanlon and panelists included:

• John Tomaszewski: Regional Director for Africa at the International Republican Institute.
• Emily Renard: Senior Policy Adviser for Africa at Open Society Foundations.
• Sasha Lezhnev: Deputy Director of Policy at the Enough Project.

The Africa Security Initiative is organized as part of the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. The program is meant to “handle special issues concerning military, social and human security in Africa, moving from crisis, conflicts and many other security problems and dangers involved in Africa” and also focuses on improving “public policy towards Africans by the United States and also develop new ideas by providing space for talks and debates”.

The video lasted for about an hour. Take a look: