agents at N'Djili International Airport
UDPS Secretary General Jacquemain Shabani, who was about to board a
plane bound for Europe, was arrested by immigration officials in the
night of Tuesday, February 7, at Kinshasa N'Djili International
Airport. He was released at 2 AM Kinshasa Time (GMT + 1) on Wednesday,
February 8, long after the departure of the plane.
According to Communication and Media Minister Lambert Mende, officials
found in Shabani's possession a passport that didn't belong to him!
Said Mende:
"I know that basically the administration of migration services
searched Mr. Shabani just as any passenger is searched at any airport
in the world. They found [in his luggage] a passport that didn't
belong to him [...] and they questioned him [about that passport]
before releasing him."
But according to Bernard Moleka, Tshisekedi's chief of staff and UDPS
spokesperson, while in custody, Shabani was so severely beaten up by
counterintelligence agents who were interrogating him that he was
rushed to a clinic upon his release.
Adding:
"After a night spent [by Shabani]under [medical] observation and
[after undergoing] different examinations of vital signs as well as
X-rays to check whether there were no broken bones following his
beating, the physician determined that he could get out of the
hospital and go home. He now simply awaits to go on on his itinerary
to Germany."
Moleka's statement is to be taken, however, with a pinch of salt, as
these days UDPS officials are prone to making fanciful or outright
wild statements.
As a matter-of-fact, intelligence sources claim that Shabani was only
roughed up when he resisted arrest. They are also baffled by UDPS'
outcry over the arrest.
"It's not like they didn't see it coming," an intelligence official
told me. "This is a party of madmen whose leader, a major crank,
proclaimed himself the president of the Republic. And they expect to
get VIP treatment at N'Djili? C'mon!"
According to UDPS sources, Shabani has to attend a conference on the
DRC in Germany. But before he does so, he needs to get back his
passport, which was seized by immigration officials.
2) Gen Gabriel Amisi Kumba aka Tango-Fort orders beating of soukouss
star Koffi Olomide
Take with a grain of salt anything you hear on Radio-Trottoir,
Kinshasa grapevine... Sometimes, even reports from apparently
legitimate media might turn out to be deceitful. Item: I relayed here
the news of Joseph Kabila's return to the capital. It now appears that
the prez is still missing from Kin--a long absence that prompted a
daily paper to quip about Kabila's "optical silence"! Though reports
of Kabila's return weren't that far-fetched: Kabila's younger brother
Zoe rode from N'Djili Airport with the presidential motorcade!
That's why I held back for so long writing about the persistent rumor
about the beating of Koffi Olomide, ordered by Gen Gabriel Amisi Kumba
aka Tango-Fort, at Kinshasa Grand Hotel, on January 31. Now that the
news of the beating is finally though belatedly in print--in an
article penned by reporter Jordache Diala in the daily La
Prospérité--I feel I can now comment on it.
Jordache Diala's article is cryptic at best as it only says that
"supporters [of football team Vita Club] were angry at [Koffi Olomide]
[and consequently] one of the windshields of the artist's [hummer] was
damaged" in the parking lot of the Grand Hotel.
But thus is one of those rare instances where rumor offers a far
better "rounded" narrative of an event.
Indeed, according to Radio-Trottoir, Vita-Club had just returned from
a training stint in Brazil and organized--as Congolese are wont to--a
party dubbed an "exchange of New Year's greetings" at the Grand Hotel.
The party featured Koffi Olomide, a fan of Vita Club himself, and his
band called the "Quartier Latin."
The president of Vita Club is none other than Gen Gabriel Amisi Kumba
aka Tango-Fort, erstwhile associate of renegade Gen Laurent Nkunda,
and currently number two most senior officer of the FARDC: he is the
infantry chief-of-staff. Now, Gen Tango-Fort is diminutive
person--height-wise.
At one point, Koffi Olomide had to call on the stage and one by one
members of the managing committee of Vita Club so as to introduce them
to the public.
When the turn of Gen Tango-Fort came to mount the podium, Koffi
Olomide grabbed his hand and raised his arm--as he did with other
managing committee members.
Except that Koffi Olomide seemed (or acted as if) baffled by the
shortness of Gen Tango-Fort!
"Heeeeeere's Gen Tango-Fort," Koffi Olomide exclaimed. "Wow! Is this
THE Tango-Fort? Tango-Fort? Amazing!"
And all the while, Koffi Olomide wouldn't let go of the hand of Gen
Tango-Fort who, tired of being subjected to this indignity, finally
snatched his hand!
Furious at being ridiculed, Gen Tango-Fort then ordered his bodyguards
to teach a lesson to Koffi Olomide, his dancers, and his band of
jokers during the intermission.
Fortunately for Koffi Olomide, Gen Tango-Fort had only a half-dozen
bodyguards around him that evening. When blows started raining on
Koffi Olomide and his band, the musician's own bodyguards interposed
and the staff of Grand Hotel quickly exfiltrated the "offenders." The
bodyguards then went to the parking lot where they proceeded to
vandalize Koffi Olomide's hummer.
According to reporter Jordache Diala of La Prospérité, both sides are
now keeping mum over the incident.
0 comments:
Post a Comment