DRC main opposition leader will not return to his country for some time

By Lubunga Bya’Ombe
KINSHASA, DRC - Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba will not return to his homeland for the time being even though his leave of absence from the country’s Senate expires at midnight on Tuesday, his spokesperson said.
Bemba, a rebel leader during the chaotic country’s 1998-2003 war who came second to President Laurent Kabila in elections last year, went to Portugal for medical treatment in April after his men were defeated in street battles by Kabila’s forces.

The Senate, of which he is a member, granted millionaire Bemba a 60-day leave of absence, which it later extended to July 31 on his request in mid-June. Bemba promised then to return to Democratic Republic of Congo as long as he received security guarantees.
Jean-Pierre Bemba will not come back to the country today or tomorrow, and no new date is yet scheduled,” his spokesperson Moise Musangana said on Tuesday.
Musangana said on Monday Kabila’s office had not responded to requests for security guarantees for Bemba, who leads the country’s political opposition as head of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), which grew from his rebel army.

“If the president of the MLC returns under the present conditions it could be dangerous for him,” he said.
Bemba’s bodyguard of several hundred fighters were routed in fierce street battles in the capital Kinshasa in March that killed hundreds of people including many civilians.
Kabila’s staff accused Bemba of high treason and the former rebel leader took refuge in the South African embassy before leaving the country for Portugal.
Kabila’s presidency declined official comment on Bemba’s possible return. A presidential advisor who declined to be named said: “He is a bandit. He must come and answer for his actions.”

It was unclear whether Bemba would face any penalty from the Senate for overstaying his leave of absence, as parliament is in recess and not due to reconvene until September 15.
“If he does not come back by September, we will need to examine whether his absence is justified or not,” Senator Ngongo Luwowo said.
After years of systematic looting and insecurity, the former Belgian colony’s five-year war dragged half a dozen foreign armies into fighting over its mineral riches.

Despite a 2003 peace deal and the holding of the first free polls for over 40 years, militia fighting continues in eastern areas and about four million people are estimated to have been killed by violence or related hunger and disease since 1998.