Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila on Monday defended the use of force to quash what he described as an armed rebellion by militia loyal to former vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba.
“Order had to be restored at any cost,” Kabil said after deadly clashes last week in the capital, Kinshasa, which left about 150 dead and 150 seriously wounded.
In his first statement since the fighting, Kabila said that Bemba’s fighters had been intent on seizing control of the capital, and that the dispute was military rather than political.
“You do not guarantee security through negotiation,” he told reporters, in an apparent response to calls from the United Nations, the African Union and various countries for a dialogue between the two sides.
About 2Â 000 troops had fought Bemba’s 700 fighters in the Gombe district of the capital on Thursday and Friday.
Bemba, who lost the presidential election in October to Kabila, had refused to have his vice-presidential bodyguard integrated into the regular army, arguing that his personal security could not be guaranteed.
The former rebel leader took refuge in the South African embassy in Kinshasa on Thursday.
Kabila accused Bemba of trying to put himself above the law. “It was totally unacceptable … and the law has put him in his place,” he added.
But he refused to say what would happen to his former vice-president, saying that a “judicial procedure” had been launched.
The government on Friday said that Bemba was being charged with high treason. Most of his fighters have fled or agreed to join government forces, but 107 took refuge at the United Nations mission in Kinshasa, the UN said.
“The government will now have to show it can be responsible,” a Western diplomat in Kinshasa said on Sunday.
“If you are going to have a rule of law the opposition must be allowed to exist without being threatened or fearing a witch-hunt.”
Kinshasa newspapers on Monday welcomed the end of the conflict but expressed worries about the future of democracy in DRC. — AFP