4th Military Region before desertion)
***
It's fortunate ridicule never kills anyone.
Otherwise, this buffoon, name of John Tshibangu, would be already dead
as we speak.
When he went AWOL with 12 other fellow tribesmen from the ranks of the
FARDC on August 12, John Tshibangu had the rank of lieutenant colonel
and was second-in-command of the 4th FARDC Military Region (both
Kasais), based in Kananga, Occidental Kasai.
But by the time he'd emerge to announce the creation of his Luba
tribal militia in a phone interview with Radio Okapi on Thursday,
August 16, he'd already promoted himself to lieutenant general!
Lt. Col. John Tshibangu thus skipped in a matter of days three FARDC
full military ranks: colonel, major general, and brigadier general.
Wow! At this rate, in just a few months' time, we might have another
"Marshall of Zaire" in our hands.
I'll however continue to address this SOB by his rank of lieutenant
colonel, until such time when the FARDC will confirm him as lieutenant
general, following intense MONUSCO-brokered negotiations with the DRC
government.
There's a rotgut moonshine in the Kasais called "tshitshampa" or "malakahia."
This rotgut is brewed from a mixture of fermented maize and rotten
manioc peels--all mixed with bhang.
And I suspect Lt. Col. John Tshibangu fills with "tshitshampa" one of
the military-issue canteens velcroed to his belt.
For there's no other way to explain his bizarre braggadocio, the wacky
mission statement of his action, and the ever changing name of his
tribal militia.
When he first came out of the woodwork, Lt. Col. John Tshibangu told
Radio Okapi his militia was called "Mouvement pour la revendication de
la vérité des urnes" [Movement for Claiming the Truth of the Ballot
Box].
Two days later, in another phone interview with the radical opposition
news website "Congo Indépendant," he now called his movement, the
"Armée du peuple congolais pour le changement et la démocratie"
[Congolese People's Army for Change and Democracy].
In both cases, Lt. Col. John Tshibangu failed to provide the sexy
acronym by which should also go by his racketeering and murdering
enterprise.
Be that as it may, that's only a question of details.
And it appears that Lt. Col. John Tshibangu doesn't bother with such
trivial things as details and may in fact have never ever heard of the
proverb, The devil is in the detail.
In any event, the main mission of Lt. Col John Tshibangu purports to
be to stop the "balkanization of the country."
The project of Lt. Col. John Tshibangu for the Congo can be unpacked
in a pitch of less than 30-second sound bite:
"The movement I am leading stems from a Congolese initiative one
hundred percent.
"We were hoping that the political personnel would find a political
solution to problems that arose after the much decried presidential
election of November 28, 2011.
"Nothing was done.
"We talked with some friends before making up our mind.
"The Congolese people is asking for change. Last November 28, Etienne
Tshisekedi wa Mulumba was elected President of the Republic.
"Our objective is to install him at the helm of the state."
And blah blah blah...
With this kind of flippancy, you've got to be as loco as the mad
lieutenant colonel himself to even think, as some opposition pols are
suggesting, that Angola is anywhere near this loquacious war-painted
tribal warlord.
What though Lt Col. John Tshibangu is an impenitent blabbermouth, yet
he's got a vast audience of slow-witted pro-Tshisekedi supporters in
the Congolese diaspora who call themselves "combatants."
A group of them has even set up a website dedicated to their tribal hero.
Lt. Col. John Tshibangu denies any link with M23--though one could
still see M23 painted all over the guy.
During Africa's World War, Lt. Col. John Tshibangu deserted the
Congolese army to join the RCD.
Then, when this movement of war profiteers splintered, Lt. Col. John
Tshibangu went with former warlord and current MP Antipas Mbusa
Nyamwisi, who recently vanished from Kinshasa and has since, as rumors
has it, defected to M23.
(Talking of rumors and vanishing MPs, it's being reported this evening
in Kinshasa official media outlets that former warlord and current MP
Roger Lumbala has defected to Kigali on his way from Paris. Lumbala
also happens to be a Luba!)
FARDC intelligence officers who are on the manhunt for Lt. Col. John
Tshibangu insist that the renegade officer was attempting to recruit
young Baluba men in the administrative "groupement" of Bakwa Tshiya,
at Miabi, in the Oriental Kasai Province, when they caught up with
him.
They claim he was planning to march with those recruits to North Kivu
to rejoin his pals of M23.
His activity at Bakwa Tshiya was recklessly unprofessional. Assuming
that as he was on Tshisekedi's turf, he could openly recruit fighters,
he was before long ratted on to military intelligence.
But when the officers stormed the compound where he was holed up, Lt.
Col. John Tshibangu fled on foot into the surrounding bush, leaving
behind his uniforms and his weapons.
The FARDC intelligence operatives then arrested the friend who was
harboring Lt. Col. John Tshibangu as well as other suspects found at
the scene.
This friend of the prattling would-be warlord happens to be a
journalist of Radio-Télé Autonome du Sud-Kasaï at Miabi.
Predictably, the FARDC and the police stormed the TV station where
they ransacked everything.
The journalist rights group "Journaliste en Danger" is denouncing the
"collateral damage" that the TV station represents.
***
(SOURCE Page Address:
www.lecongolais.cd/john-tshibangu-lhomme-qui-veut-chasser-joseph-kabila-du-pouvoir/)
***
(PHOTO CREDITS: Via: lecongolais.cd)
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