Felix Tshisekedi, after being sworn-in Thursday afternoon as the 5th President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), spoke of “celebrating with all compatriots this moment that consecrates a reconciled DR Congo” in his inaugural address.“This Thursday January 24, 2019 is a historic day. It is a day dreamt of by all the actors who brought our beautiful country to nobility, while awakening our consciences. A great day for our common will to cross the shores of our destiny together,” President Tshisekedi declared in his speech at the Palais de la Nation in Kinshasa, in the presence of his predecessor Joseph Kabila.

“We do not celebrate the victory of one camp against another; we hail a reconciled Congo,” added DRC’s new head of state, son of Etienne Tshisekedi, the late veteran DRC opposition leader who died almost two years ago in Belgium.

Now “the Democratic Republic of Congo we are forming will not be a divided Congo, neither one of hatred or tribalism.

“We want to build a strong Congo in its cultural diversity and its attachment to the motherland. A Congo turned towards its development in peace and security. A Congo in which everyone finds their rightful place,” he continued, in the presence of his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, the only head of state seen at the official stand with several other officials who showed up to represent their countries .