Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) authorities charged opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba with ”high treason” Friday on a second day of clashes which reports said had killed at least seven people.
The former vice-president, who was defeated in historic presidential elections last year, sought refuge in the South African embassy late on Thursday after heavy fighting broke out between members of his personal bodyguard and government troops in the capital Kinshasa.
”The judicial authorities … have issued an arrest warrant for high treason against Jean-Pierre Bemba,” government spokesperson Toussaint Tshilombo Send told Agence France-Press (AFP).
”Bemba committed treason in using the armed forces for his own ends,” the spokesman said.
Fighting broke out between members of the DRC presidential guard and Bemba loyalists on Thursday after Bemba, also a former rebel chief, refused a government order for his bodyguards to be integrated into the regular army.
Light weapons fire and loud explosions from shells or mortars were heard earlier on Friday in the northern district of Gombe, where Bemba’s residence is located, AFP correspondents said.
But the district was later brought ”under the control of the Congolese army,” the spokesperson for the United Nations mission in the country (Monuc), Lieutenant Colonel Didier Rancher, said.
”There are still some shots in other districts but the situation has calmed down,” he added.
At least seven people have been killed in the fighting in the past two days, UN-sponsored Radio Okapi reported Friday.
The head of the capital’s General Hospital, Dieudonne Diabeno, could not confirm any dead to AFP but said there were 10 wounded, including three soldiers in serious condition.
A Western security official said he had seen ”four or five” bodies of Bemba loyalists near his home in Gombe, while the UN’s Rancher said ”many” wounded were being evacuated.
Two French nationals have been wounded by stray bullets but their lives are not in danger, a foreign Ministry spokesperson said in Paris.
And two people were hurt when a shell struck a building across the River Congo in Brazzaville, capital of the neighbouring Congo republic, hospital sources said.
The Greek embassy in Kinshasa was also hit by a shell that shattered windows and damaged the interior, but there were no casualties, the Greek government said.
A petrol-storage tank was hit by a mortar shell and exploded in flames near Ndolo air base in Gombe, diplomatic sources said. A thick plume of smoke was visible from more than 10km away.
The violence broke out mid-morning Thursday near Bemba’s home, prompting residents to flee their homes and schools.
As the clashes intensified, Bemba took shelter in the South African embassy.
”Mr Bemba has been taken in temporarily. He absolutely has not made any demand for asylum,” South Africa’s deputy ambassador Kenneth Pedro told AFP.
”He didn’t feel safe in his home. He wanted to be able to continue working. He is our guest. It will be temporary.”
Bemba was elected a senator in January, a position that carries immunity from prosecution during the term of office.
The DRC chief prosecutor, Tshimanga Mukeba, told AFP that Parliament would be approached with a request to lift Bemba’s immunity.
South Africa, which was a key contributor to the peace process in the DRC, expressed deep concern at the renewed violence and called for a ceasefire.
Similar calls for calm came from the European Union, Britain, France, and Belgium. The UN peacekeeping force in DRC evacuated more than 600 people from the area caught up in fighting on Thursday.
Tensions rose in Kinshasa after the government of President Joseph Kabila announced last week that it intended to scale down the military contingent protecting Bemba and another former vice-president, Azarias Ruberwa.
Bemba and Azarias Ruberwa, whose rebel movements battled Kinshasa until 2003, were vice-presidents under Kabila during a post-war transition to democratic rule overseen by the UN.
The transition ended last year with the first democratic elections in more than four decades. Kabila was inaugurated as president in December following a second-round victory over Bemba.
Since his election as a senator, Bemba has refused to have his bodyguard integrated into the regular army, arguing that his personal security could not be guaranteed. — AFP
