Congo News Agency: Breaking News from D.R. Congo

President Joseph Kabila arrived in Bukavu on Monday morning and went straight from Kavumu airport to the bedsides of the victims of Friday night oil tanker explosion in Sange, who had been transferred to hospitals in the capital of South Kivu province.

 President Kabila later went to the scene of the accident in Sange to pay respect to those who lost their lives and comfort victims and residents still in shock after this horrible tragedy.

A government delegation of six ministers and the governor of South Kivu province preceded president Kabila in Sange.

The government has sent medical aid and additional health practitioners to the region from Kinshasa to help care for the burn victims. Hospitals in the region have also received help from local residents and organizations such as the Red Cross, the World Health Organization and the United Nations mission in the DRC.

President Jospeh Kabila has declared two days of mourning following the death of 235 people in an oil tanker truck explosion in eastern Congo.

In a speech to the nation on Sunday, president Kabila said that the Congolese flag will fly at half-mast on Monday and Tuesday to honor the memory of those who lost their lives on Friday night in the town of Sange, near Uvira.

The tanker truck was full of gasoline and overturned while trying to avoid a parked vehicle. Oil started gushing out of the truck before exploding. The cause of the explosion is not yet clear.

President Kabila said he has ordered an investigation and asked the government to take measures to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.

At least 104 people were wounded in the explosion. Many of the victims were transferred to Hospitals in Uvira and Bukavu.

Health Minister Victor Makweng Kaput arrived in Bukavu on Sunday, where he visited burn victims of the fire at the Panzi Hospital.

A least 200 people are dead after an oil tanker overturned Friday night and later exploded in the eastern South Kivu province town of Sange, near Uvira.  At least 212 people were injured.

Most of the dead were watching the World Cup in a nearby theater, others were bystanders, while others had approached the truck to get the leaking fuel oil.

The exact cause of the explosion remains unclear. The government has ordered an investigation. The driver of the truck, who may have been speeding when the accident occurred, was wounded and transported to the hospital.

United Nations peacekeepers were deployed on the scene and along with aid workers from the Red Cross helped transport the wounded to hospitals in Sange and Uvira. The UN mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) has confirmed that earlier reports of its peacekeepers being among the dead were not true.

An impressive parade of the Congolese Armed Forces, the national police and civilians took place on Wednesday in Kinshasa, on the new Triumphal Boulevard, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s accession to national and internationally sovereignty.

Three highlights marked this historic event, a prayer by leaders of religious denominations, President Joseph Kabila’s speech to the nation, and the parade itself.

In his speech, President Kabila said that “slowly but surely, the Congo is recovering.” He emphasized the unity of the country as one of the remarkable achievements of the past fifty years. He also pointed to the return of peace, national reconciliation, and the establishment of democracy. He also said that there had been “missed” opportunities during the last fifty years and pledged to continue the fight for better social services, education, health, and all other anti-values.

He also paid tribute to the Fathers of Independence Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Kasavubu , Albert Kalonji Jean Bolikango , Cleophas Kamitatu , Paul Bolia and others, along with the Prophet Simon Kimbangu, the “three Josephs ” — Malula , Ngalula and Ileo — and his predecessors, Joseph Mobutu and Laurent -Desire Kabila.

Around five thousand Congolese soldiers and policemen, hundreds of tanks and vehicles paraded down the Triumphal Boulevard, completely renovated, near Martyr’s Stadium and the Palais du Peuple.

Among the guests of honor were King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium, King Mswati III of Swaziland, Presidents Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo – Brazzaville, Teodoro Obiang Guema Equatorial Guinea, Fradique Melo de Menezes of Sao Tome and Principe, Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia, Francois Bozize of the RCA, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Ali Bongo of Gabon, Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Rupiah Banda of Zambia.

Other countries were represented either by their Vice – Presidents (South Africa and Burundi), Prime Minister (Belgium), or by Ministers Morocco, India, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, China, Egypt, United States).

President Kabila said in his speech that recovery in the Congo will also benefit countries in the region, including those in Central Africa and other regions such as SADC, ECCAS and the Great Lakes.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki -moon was also in attendance, along with former Heads of States Thabo Mbeki, Ketumile Masire, Benjamin Mkapa and representatives of the African Union, the European Union, and other organizations.

United Nations peacekeepers also took part in the parade. In his speech, President Kabila thanked the U.N. force for its involvement in the restoration of peace in the DRC.

Excerpts from Digital Congo, Presse Présidentielle and Radio Okapi

King Albert II of Belgium arrived in Kinshasa on Monday to take part in the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s independence from Belgium.

King Albert II was greeted upon his arrival at Kinshasa’s Ndjili airport by Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba and the governor of Kinshasa, Andre Kimbuta Yango.

President Joseph Kabila later met with King Albert II for 45 minutes at his official residence, the Palais de la Nation.

King Albert II, who is accompanied by Queen Paola, will visit on the sidelines of the June 30th festivities, the King Baudouin Hospital in Masina, the National Institute of Vocational Preparation (INPP), and the Chanic naval shipyard, fruits of Belgian cooperation.

Excerpts from Agence Congolaise de Presse (ACP) articles

Three members of the family of former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba will file a criminal complaint with a civil claim against twelve Belgians who were living in Katanga when Lumumba was killed, the Belga news agency reported on Tuesday, citing one of their Belgian lawyers.

According to Christophe Marchand, a lawyer for Lumumba’s family, the complaint will be filed against “twelve people”, all Belgians, who were “living at the time” in Katanga, where the hero of Congo’s independence from Belgium was killed on Jan. 17, 1961, shortly after his transfer from Leopoldville (now Kinshasa), in circumstances that still remain unclear.

The complaint will be filed for “war crimes” and the “unlawful transfer” of Patrice Lumumba to Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi, the capital of Katanga province), for which there are no statutes of limitations, even 49 years after the events occurred, said Marchand, during a press conference in the presence of one of the sons of the first prime minister of the Congo after its independence from Belgium, Guy Lumumba.

Marchand declined to identify the twelve people “still alive”, stressing that the plaintiffs will reserve their identities to the judge. He only said that it was mainly people involved “in politics.”

Guy Lumumba, born a few days after his father’s death, said his family had hoped, after the fall of former President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, that the new authorities would open an investigation into his father’s death. But this never happened. “Now, Belgium can do it,” he said.

According to Marchand, the judge who will be appointed following the filing of the complaint will determine whether the death of Patrice Lumumba was indeed a “war crime” — and therefore not affected by a statute of limitations. He justified the filing of the complaint in October only by the need to coordinate the work of three teams of lawyers (Belgian, German and American) involved in the case.

The complaint will rely on the findings of a Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry, which concluded in November 2001 that there was a moral responsibility of “some members of the Belgian government and other Belgians” in the death of Lumumba, considered pro-communist at the time, without mentioning their names.

The Belgian Foreign Minister in 2001, Louis Michel, apologized for Belgium in April of that year to the Congo. But the lawyers for Lumumba’s family believe it is now time to go beyond this “collective responsibility.”

“There was evidence pointing to individual responsibility,” said Marchand.

From Agence Congolaise de Presse (ACP) article

Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito announced on Thursday he was withdrawing the decrees he had signed conferring the status of town and municipalities to some parts of the country. He said he would instead establish a technical committee to propose changes.

The head of the government was responding to an inquiry by Senator Patrice Aimé Sessanga, who had questioned the constitutionality of the decrees.

Concerning the creation of new provinces, Adolphe Muzito said the government has faced a lot of constraints, which have delayed the creation of new provinces by May 15 of this year, as required by the Constitution.

“The government is suspected of having deliberately delayed the creation of new provinces. This goal has not yet been reached because the government has had to deal with a lot of obstacles”, he said.

But Senator Sessanga believes the creation of new provinces does not require billions of dollars, as suggested by the Prime Minister. He says it is rather a question of lack of political will.

“When it comes to the creation of new provinces, the reality is that you are not actually creating new provinces. You are putting in place new provincial political institutions, which means, putting in place a provincial Assembly that chooses its leaders and elects a governor, who then chooses his team”, Senator Sessanga said.

From Radio Okapi Article

The national chief of police, General John Numbi, has been suspended following the murder of prominent human rights defender Floribert Chebeya.

In a statement read on state television, Interior minister Adotphe Lumanu said  that a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council headed by President Joseph Kabila decided on Saturday to relieve General John Numbi from his duties as Inspector General of the police as a “precautionary” measure.

Floribert Chebeya was found dead on Tuesday, a day after he was summoned to a meeting with John Numbi and was later reported missing by relatives and colleagues after they failed to reach him.

Lumanu said that President Kabila was “determined that all light be shed” on Floribert Chebeya’s killing. He also said that the initial investigation has already led to the arrest of some police officers.

The Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), has called for a boycott of festivities being organized by the government to celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence on June 30.

Francois Muamba, the Secretary-General of the MLC, told the Voice of America (VOA) on Friday that the “MLC, its elected officials, its leaders, and supporters, will not participate, under any circumstances, in the June 30th festivities.”

He was reacting to the death of prominent human rights advocate Floribert Chebeya who was found dead in his car on Tuesday, a day after being summoned to a meeting with the Inspector General of the police, General John Numbi.

“What would be the purpose of giving the impression that we have sacrificed what’s most important, meaning all our martyrs for the last 50 years, who fought so that this country, at the very least, may move towards democracy? We are also taking into account what’s going on (in the country)  right now, which seems to be the result of a politically-motivated choice made by those who are governing us,” Francois Muamba told the VOA.

Before his death, Floribert Chebeya, along with some rights groups and non-governmental organizations, had called for the festivities to be scaled down, and even scrapped, citing the 2 million USD budgeted for the events by the government.

Floribert Chebeya, a leading human rights activist, has been found dead in his car outside of Kinshasa, a  day after being reported missing by colleagues and relatives after they failed to reach him on his cell phone.

Floribert Chebeya was summoned to meet with the General Inspector of the Police, General John Numbi, yesterday morning. He went to the Inspectorate with his driver around 5pm. His wife told Radio Okapi that they exchanged text messages until around 9pm, when he told her that he did not meet with General Numbi and was now heading to a local University. That was the last time she heard from him.

His rights group, la Voix des Sans Voix (Voice of the Voiceless), issued an urgent press release reporting him missing last night. He was found dead in his car this morning in Mitendi. The whereabouts of his driver are still unknown.

Floribert Chebeya was a pioneer in the field of human rights in the Congo (then called Zaire). He first became well-known nationwide in the 1990s for his defense of prisoners’ living conditions (many of them arrested for political reasons), their treatment, and access to the legal system.

He founded la Voix des Sans Voix in 1988 with other students to fight for human rights and democratization, at a time when only few dared to challenge Mobutu’s dictatorship. 

At the time of his death, he was the head of the National Network of Human Rights and Non-Governmental Organizations in the Congo. He had received many awards for his work from national and international organizations.

He was harassed and arrested many times under the Mobutu regime, and under both Laurent Kabila and Joseph Kabila.

Amnesty International said in a statement that Floribert Chebeya “felt he had been followed and that he was under surveillance by the security services.”

“The government must urgently investigate this cold blooded murder and prosecute those responsible,” said Veronique Aubert, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Africa Program. “Those who defend the rights of others must be allowed to continue their work free of harassment and persecution.”