A judicial affair

While our old friend Jean Pierre Bemba has been braaing away his time at the South African Embassy here in Kinshasa, he still has not received permission from the Congolese government to travel to Portugal. It’s not clear who is responsible for granting the request, nor has a warrant been issued for his arrest to date.

An unnamed minister comments “Bemba is a judicial problem… This has nothing to do with us.” while the state prosecutor says that although Bemba is being investigated, “(t)his case doesn’t concern the judiciary. We have nothing to do with his departure.”

Apparently Bemba is not the only one looking for a new home: two swimmers competing in Melbourne on behalf of Congo have decided to make a break for a better life.

On the ground here in Kinshasa, the streets are quiet in the evenings as all UN personnel are still on an 8pm curfew. There’s still some question about what will happen from this point forward. With some of Bemba’s former soldiers now integrated into the national army with unknown loyalties and others still hiding in la cité, it’s difficult to say whether his forces are too fractured to continue to cause unrest or still pose significant threat. Maybe we need some technical support from Sahara Sarah who’s latest adventures in Burundi include a CD ROM on coping with insecurity.

Meanwhile word is that the government is running on a 10% budget deficit which certainly won’t help the dip the Congolese franc suffered as a result of last month’s fighting. That combined with complaints that Kabila’s government has been harassing different members of the opposition does not present a pretty picture for the path to democracy.