Nobel peace prize-winning gynaecologist Denis Mukwege, renowned for helping victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has announced plans to run for president in December. Mukwege, who won the award in 2018 for his nearly two-decade campaign against sexual violence, made the announcement to a jubilant crowd of supporters at a conference centre in DRC’s capital, Kinshasa. “My only motivation is to save and develop our country,” he said, in a speech that was heavy on criticism of the current regime but offered little in the way of specific policy proposals. He said he would give details on his programme later. Mukwege will be running against the incumbent president, Felix Tshisekedi, whose first term was mired by economic hardship, epidemics and worsening insecurity in the east.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN