In recent weeks, full-page ads have appeared in U.S. newspapers praising Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is worth looking at the argument he and his domestic and foreign supporters are making — that he should be given a third, unconstitutional term as president of that tortured country.

Mr. Kabila came to power in 2001 when his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated in a nasty squabble over money and power. The senior Mr. Kabila came to office in 1997 with the help of an invasion of the Congo by Rwanda, intent on overthrowing longtime dictator Mobutu Sese-Seko, president since 1965. This was part of a general upheaval in that part of Africa at that time. The wars in the so-called Great Lakes states claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions of people.

In spite of the younger Mr. Kabila’s many weaknesses, acknowledged by Congolese and foreigners alike, he was considered the best choice among even more flawed possibilities for president at that time. He didn’t even speak Lingala, the lingua franca of half the Congo, and was more comfortable in English than in French, the principal foreign tongue spoken in that nation of now 75 million.

Nonetheless, he is considered to have done a reasonable job as president, and was re-elected in reasonably honest 2011 elections.

Now, he wishes to join the hallowed circle of African presidents who seek to govern for life. Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe is the worst, at 91 having been in power for 36 years and having thoroughly ruined his country’s economy. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea are also ranked in prolonged despotism.

There is no advantage to the Congolese in shattering the already thin veneer of representative rule by giving Mr. Kabila another term. The country remains a profound mess, with its east riddled with out-of-control ethnic militias, its infrastructure almost nonexistent, and poverty and corruption its watchwords.

Americans should ignore Mr. Kabila’s exhortations, wondering only who is paying for his ads.