Opposition political leader Etienne Tshisekedi has returned to a triumphant welcome to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after spending two years in exile in South Africa.
The convoy that brought Tshisekedi to his home in the eastern Limete neighbourhood of the capital, Kinshasa, on Sunday took more than three hours to cover the 20km from the airport, due to the vast, cheering crowd packing the roadside.
On his arrival in DRC from South Africa, Tshisekedi vowed to ”relaunch the activity of the [Union for Democracy and Social Progress] party with a view to taking part in the elections after the transition period”.
The DRC set up a transition government in June to guide the vast Central African country to elections after a five-year war that began in 1998 and was resolved in April this year with the formal application of a peace pact signed in South Africa in December.
Nicknamed ”Leader Maximo” by supporters, Tshisekedi has had no official political role for the past seven years. But during DRC peace talks, where he represented the political opposition, he had referred to himself several times as president, then prime minister, then one of four vice-presidents in the transitional government.
In May, the political opposition named Arthur Zahidi Ngoma as its vice-president in the transitional government.
Tshisekedi’s alliance with the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy caused many backers to quit his Union for Democracy and Social Progress party in protest. — Sapa-AFP