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.

Fallout

While news agencies now reporting over 600 deaths during the recent violence, the EU and its member states’ leaders come out strongly against the attack on several embassies: Article 22 of the convention states that all diplomatic premises shall be inviolable, and that the state is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage…

Meanwhile Bemba, still camped out in the South African Embassy (in Kinshasa, contrary to rumours!), is most likely headed to Portugal for medical treatment. Hopes are high that this will diffuse the political situation, although there has been much speculation over Bemba’s forces that supposedly escaped across the river to Brazzaville. With 200 of Bemba’s men in Equateur agreeing to integration into the national army, it’s difficult to say how many active troops he had prior to the fighting.

We’re all still trading war stories and trying to figure out which rumours are true. How exactly did Bemba’s brother get out of prison last Wednesday night after being picked up by the police for threatening the Prime Minister?

Problème de communication?

Yesterday was President Kabila’s first interview with the press since his inauguration in January, about 100 days ago. Since first coming to power in 2001, Kabila has been known as a man of few words. In a country of the overly-verbose, most people find this puzzling. What is a leader if not someone to make long-winded speeches to his subjects?

Whether you attribute Kabila’s silence to his lack of comfort in French and Lingala (his preferred languages are English and Swahili), a solitary nature or a lack of intelligence, I give you a few select quotes from which to draw your own conclusions.

On the possibility of opening a dialogue with Bemba:
Ce n’est pas avec des négociations qu’on va assurer la sécurité des Congolais… Il faut faire respecter la loi.
(Negotiations are not what will ensure the security of the Congolese people… The law must be respected.)

What do you have to say to those who say you do not communicate enough?
Vous étiez trop habitués aux discours dans ce pays, habituez-vous aux actions sur le terrain et moins aux discours.
(In this country, you are too used to discourse. Get used to actions speaking louder than words.)

What do you have to say about the opposition and freedom of expression?
C’est constitutionnel… Quant aux média de l’opposition, je n’en ai pas entendu parler, il faut demander au ministre de l’Information.
(It is constitutional… As for the opposition media, I haven’t heard much about it. Ask the Ministry of Information.)

Rumours are flying right now and the government is not dispelling them.
La rumeur, est-ce un problème de communication ? Je ne pense pas.
(Rumours are a communication problem? I don’t think so.)

MONUC and others says that the violence was avoidable. Do you feel that you have lost some credibility in the democratic process?
Quelle est la contradiction sur le plan politique ? Le problème était militaire… La paix n’a pas de prix.
(What is the contradiction in the political plan? Le problem is military… Peace does not have a price.)

Do you think there is a possibility of amnesty for Mr. Bemba?
L’erreur, pendant la Transition, était de croire qu’on pouvait arriver à la réconciliation sans la justice.
(The error during the transition is to believe that there can be reconciliation without justice.)

For those of you still wondering where Bemba is, I heard three possibilities while exchanging rumours with friends at dinner :
• He’s still at the South African Embassy
• He’s in Brazzaville
• He’s at the South African Embassy in Brazzaville.

All sounded plausible until someone pointed out that there is no South African Embassy in Brazzaville.

(Milles excuses for my paraphrasing of questions and poor translation skills on the responses but you get the idea.)