Kinshasa was reeling today from the violence that engulfed the Tshangu constituency Saturday afternoon. By Sunday evening, the death tool stood at 10 "killed by bullets" and more than 40 injured (Radio Okapi). Tension started flaring up by mid-morning when pro-Kabila and UDPS clashed at the Place du Cinquantenaire, a short distance from the Palais du Peuple, the seat of Parliament. Tshisekedi was slated to hold his rally at the Place du Cinquantenaire, Kabila at Stade des Martyrs (Kinshasa Commune), and Kamerhe at Stade Tata Raphaël (Kalamu Commune)--all...
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Saturday, 26 November 2011
21:44 HRS Kinshasa Time (GMT + 1). (Or thereabout.)Plot now thickens as to who between Kabila and Tshisekedi landed at Ndolo Airport. Another version has Tshisekedi's aircraft landing at Ndolo instead of N'Djili Airport as previously planned. This change of plan, still according to this version, angered so much Tshisekedi he drove to N'Djili to confront airport authorities and pick up his supporters who were awaiting him. Hence, the ensuing scuffles involving UDPS members and the ban on rallies issued by Kin Gov André Kimbuta!......
20:24 HRS Kinshasa Time (GMT + 1) or thereabout... I'am back home now... Funny: was listening to a couple of reports on Konshasa and the Cobgo on BBC. Claims of UDPS standoff with police as the former are alleged to be bent on holding their rally today! That's a lie: it's night time now and there's no way authorities would allow a rally to be held at night... Despite the donnybrook in Tshangu, Kin is guardedly calm tonighy......
Around 17:56 HRS Kinshasa Time. My London "muzungu/mundele" (as Kinois kept calling this blogger's folliower at this sidewalk bar) buddy did show up. We shared a "Skol" beer while discussing Monday plans (election day). We took snapshots of a UDPS campaign motorcade. Though Matonge is a abuzz with music, there's an ominous cloud of unease loomong (by the way it's an overcast sky). While sharing a beer with my British buddy, I got a call from my family urging me to steer clear of Victoire Place in Matonge where there was heaving shooting (where...
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
A Radio-Okapi report posted today--here, Tuesday, November 22--says that Tshisekedi has finally fliown to Mbandaka fron Kindu--without giving any precision on the type of aircraft the UDPS leader boarded. Pro-Tshisekedi media assert it was the same chartered jet pro-Kabila media alleged to have been recalled to South Africa. (Some readers here think I'm cooking these stories myself. I am not. Media here are so partisan you end up totally misinformed and confused at times.) Radio-Okapi report did in fact broach the issue of the strange 3-day stay...
1) Dollar plummets against Congolese FrancElectoral campaigns have been ravenously gobbling up Congolese Francs--what with MP candidates rounding up passersby in the streets of their constituencies and handing them money and other crazy expenses related to their campaigns (buying beers to bar patrons, distributing.t-shirts, campaign flyers, etc.).This has resulted in the Congo Democratic Franc (CDF) turning into a hot commodity for "cambistes" (street money changers) and Asian & Chinese shopkeepers. Shopkeepers are shunning these days the dollar,...
In an eerie telephone interview in Lingala with pro-opposition RLTV anchor Eliezer Ntumba in the night of Sunday, November 6, Etienne Tshisekedi brazenly called his UDPS supporters to resort to violence on Tuesday, November 8, at noon sharp (Kinshasa Time), and simultaneously in Kananga, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi. That Tuesday, UDPS militants are to storm prisons in those locations to help jailed UDPS militants in a mass jailbreak. Tshisekedi claimed he'd already been chosen by the majority of the Congolese people and, hence, the...
Congolese media have just reported this evening that Maniema Gov Pascal Tutu, a card-carrying member of pro-Kabila PPRD parry, has booked one-way commercial airline tickets to Kinshasa for stranded UDPS leader and presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi, his wife and political aide Maman Marthe, and his 7- or so strong campaign team managers. The prospects of Thisekedi's planned Mexican standoff with incumbent Joseph Kabila have thus dramatically dimmed these past 48 hours as legitimate questions are now being raised as to how he could face the...
Monday, 21 November 2011
In an eerie telephone interview in Lingala with pro-opposition RLTV anchor Eliezer Ntumba in the night of Sunday, November 6, Etienne Tshisekedi brazenly called his UDPS supporters to resort to violence on Tuesday, November 8, at noon sharp (Kinshasa Time), and simultaneously in Kananga, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi. That Tuesday, UDPS militants are to storm prisons in those locations to help jailed UDPS militants in a mass jailbreak. Tshisekedi claimed he'd already been chosen by the majority of the Congolese people and, hence, the...
Congolese media have just reported this evening that Maniema Gov Pascal Tutu, a card-carrying member of pro-Kabila PPRD parry, has booked one-way commercial airline tickets to Kinshasa for stranded UDPS leader and presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi, his wife and political aide Maman Marthe, and his 7- or so strong campaign team managers. The prospects of Thisekedi's planned Mexican standoff with incumbent Joseph Kabila have thus dramatically dimmed these past 48 hours as legitimate questions are now being raised as to how he could face the...
Congolese media have just reported this evening that Maniema Gov Pascal Tutu, a card-carrying member of pro-Kabila PPRD parry, has booked one-way commercial airline tickets to Kinshasa for stranded UDPS leader and presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi, his wife and political aide Maman Marthe, and his 7- or so strong campaign team managers. The prospects of Thisekedi's planned Mexican standoff with incumbent Joseph Kabila have thus dramatically dimmed these past 48 hours as legitimate questions are now being raised as to how he could face the...
In an eerie telephone interview in Lingala with pro-opposition RLTV anchor Eliezer Ntumba in the night of Sunday, November 6, Etienne Tshisekedi brazenly called his UDPS supporters to resort to violence on Tuesday, November 8, at noon sharp (Kinshasa Time), and simultaneously in Kananga, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi. That Tuesday, UDPS militants are to storm prisons in those locations to help jailed UDPS militants in a mass jailbreak. Tshisekedi claimed he'd already been chosen by the majority of the Congolese people and, hence, the...
1) Etienne Tshisekedi is stuck in KinduThe electoral campaign unfolding in the DRC seems to be sliding from bizarre to outright uncanny. News reports allege today that Etienne Tshisekedi is stuck in Kindu, the provincial capital of Maniema. His only way to get back to Kinshasa would be to be given a seat on one of MONUSCO flights on humanitarian grounds.Tshisekedi had chartered an 11-seat Grumman executive jet (including 3 crewmembers) from Allengiancia Air South Africa for 9 days. The time of the contract with the airline having run out, Allengiancia...
Thursday, 17 November 2011
1) UDPS Secretary General Jacquemain Shabani sanctioned for "Gross Misconduct"Once again, crisis struck at the top of UDPS organization thisThursday, November 17--eleven days in the run-up to the generalelections. The head of UDPS "Commission Nationale de Discipline"--theparty's disciplinary commission--read a statement broadcast on TV andradio announcing that Secretary General Jacquemain Shabani had justbeen sanctioned for "gross misconduct" ("faute grave").The discplinary commission alleged that Shabani failed to follow up onthe situation of...
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Maman EkofoAt her "Maboke" standOn the flank of "Mwana Kin" sidewalk barKinshasa, MatongeMobile Phone Photo: Alex EngwetePre-electoral violence has escalated so much countrywide that Rev Daniel Ngoy Mulunda, the electoral commission chairman, has expressly requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) send a team of observers in Kinshasa--no doubt to deter would-be culprits. A few days ago, in Bandundu Province, bodyguards of presidential...
Monday, 7 November 2011
In an eerie telephone interview in Lingala with pro-opposition RLTV anchor Eliezer Ntumba in the night of Sunday, November 6, Etienne Tshisekedi brazenly called his UDPS supporters to resort to violence on Tuesday, November 8, at noon sharp (Kinshasa Time), and simultaneously in Kananga, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Mbuji-Mayi. That Tuesday, UDPS militants are to storm prisons in those locations to help jailed UDPS militants in a mass jailbreak. Tshisekedi claimed he'd already been chosen by the majority of the Congolese people and, hence, the...
Friday, 4 November 2011
1) Electoral Scandal: Walikale Constituency (North Kivu) Independent MP Candidate No. 18 Ntabo Sheka is an alleged Mass Rape perp (HRW) Independent MP candidate No.18 Ntabo ShekaWalikale Constituency (North Kivu) Electoral Commission official photo(Credits)On Wednesday, November 2, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement titled "DR Congo: Arrest Candidate for Mass Rape: Mai Mai Leader Sheka Campaigning While Arrest Warrant Goes Unenforced...
Thursday, 3 November 2011
1) Ballot boxes start arriving from ChinaBallot boxes started arriving from China this week. Two flights have so far landed, carrying more than 30,000 ballot boxes: the first 747 Boeing cargo plane in Lubumbashi and the second one in Kinshasa. The ballot boxes of Lubumbashi are to be distributed in eastern provinces, those of Kinshasa in western provinces. The airlift is to continue in the coming days. On Tuesday, November 1, CENI Chair Rev Daniel Ngoy Mulunda unveiled two exemplars of those ballot boxes (blue lid for legislative polls; yellow...
At midnight--in the night of Thursday, October 27, to Friday, October 28--the electoral campaign was officially launched by a CENi official. The electoral campaogn is to last one month, until November 26 at midnight--two days prior to the general elections. Political ads and songs were immediately broadcast on TV and radio at precisely 0:00 HRS Kinshasa Time. First among presidential campaigns, Vital Kamerhe's campaigns had a long ad running on TV only moments after the official kick-off of the electoral campaign. On pro-Kabila TV channels a blue...
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