FRIDAY, 2.30PM
THE South African government will officially raise Thursday’s arrest of Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi with President Laurent Kabila, as part of its efforst to assist in the country’s road to democracy, Presidential aide Parks Mankahlana said on Friday.
“There’s no reason to be hysterical about this incident,” Mankahlana said. Meanwhile, the National Party said Tshisekedi’s arrest was further proof that Kabila is another dictator.
FRIDAY, 12.30PM
DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi was released from custody on Friday morning after 10 hours in detention, during which police ordered him to abandon politics.
“These methods hark back to the era of Mobutu’s police,” Tshisekedi told about 300 supporters outside his home after he was freed.
A dozen cars and a bus were burned in protest outside Tshisekedi’s home in downtown Kinshasa after his arrest. Soldiers from the new government of President Laurent Kabila shot into the air above the crowd, sending people fleeing.
During his night in police custody, Tshisekedi said, officers “told me I have lots of influence over the press and I must muzzle the press. They told me to abandon politics. I call on all supporters to battle all kinds of dictatorship.”
FRIDAY, 9.30AM
LAURENT KABILA’S soldiers arrested opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi last night, a few hours after he had defied a ban on political activity by giving a public speech.
Fifty soldiers surrounded Tshisekedi’s house, demanding that he come out. He refused, barricading himself inside, together with his wife and children. The soldiers broke down the door and arrested the entire family. Unconfirmed reports indicate that other Tshisekedi supporters have also been arrested.
Tshisekedi may have earned Kabila’s wrath earlier in the day, when soldiers arrived to order him to a meeting with the new president. Tshisekedi said he was too busy. At a public meetng at the University of Kinshasa later, Tshisekedi made a relatively conciliatory speech, saying he believed that his differences with Kabila would soon be resolved.
MEANWHILE, Kabila’s own supporters are showing the first signs of disappointment. In Kisangane, long a Kabila stronghold, Kabila’s soldiers protested by firing rounds into the air for half an hour after some where paid in US dollars, some in the local currency and some not at all. In Kinshasa, civil servants were paid for the first time in months, but the pay packets were worth as little as $20.