Suspicion rife as Congo outsider triumphs
stepped down two years ago, had found a way even now to ensure he could have at least a share of power.
Protests yesterday were limited, but security personnel shot dead two anti-government demonstrators in Kikwit in the southwest, and there were also disturbances in the city of Kisangani.
However, the situation could deteriorate rapidly. Much will America will ‘‘expel every last Iranian boot from Syria’’, Mike Pompeo said yesterday in a speech asserting President Donald Trump’s right to an aggressive political strategy for the Middle East.
The secretary of state poured scorn on President Barack Obama’s efforts to moderate policy in the Middle East and negotiate with Iran, calling him misguided and a victim of ‘‘wishful thinking’’.
He told an audience in Cairo that under Trump ‘‘the age of selfinflicted American shame is over’’. The US had taken a ‘‘reinvigorated role in the Middle East’’, he said, and ‘‘reasserted its role as a force for good in this region’’ – despite Trump’s decision to pull all US troops out of Syria.
Pompeo said: ‘‘President Trump has reversed our wilful blindness to the danger of the [Iranian] regime and withdrew from the failed nuclear deal.’’ The Middle East would never enjoy security or achieve economic stability if Iran’s revolutionary regime persists on its current course, he said.
Trump’s determination to take on Iran, a policy for which he specifically recruited Pompeo, has been questioned since his decision to withdraw from Syria. Critics including James Mattis, his