19 Jun 2007: ISS Today: Congo`s Self-Exiled Bemba Plans July Return

19 June 2007: Congo`s Self-Exiled Bemba Plans July Return
Reuters

 

Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba hopes to return from self-imposed exile in Portugal next month after Senate leaders allowed him to extend a medical leave of absence, one of his advisers said on Saturday. Bemba, elected a senator after losing landmark presidential elections last year, was granted a 60-day leave by the Senate in early April to seek medical treatment for an old injury. His departure from Congo followed heavy fighting between his personal guard and government troops in Kinshasa.

 

The deadline for his return expired last weekend but the Senate leadership said in a statement late on Friday they had extended his leave until July 31 after receiving a letter from him asking to prolong his stay in Portugal. "(Bemba) informed the Senate of his intention to return at the end of July, as long as his security situation is sorted out," Fidel Babala, one of Bemba`s advisers, told Reuters.

 

Commentary

 

The Bemba saga continues and even became a point of discussion in the South African Parliament on 14 June 2007. In a speech to the South African legislature, President Kabila maintained that Bemba’s fate was not in his hands. He pointed out that the Public Prosecutor had requested the Senate to revoke Bemba’s parliamentary immunity in order that he might be brought to answer charges related to state security following the violent clashes in Kinshasa in March 2007. Bemba’s fate, he argued, was therefore in the hands of the Senate and the justice system. President Mbeki’s response was that the issue had been discussed at a recent summit of the Southern Africa Development Community, where it had been agreed that the DRC, with its new democratic institutions and government, should deal with the matter according to its own processes.

 

The South African government had, of course, provided for Bemba’s security by hosting him in the South African embassy compound during the March/April violence in Kinshasa. Subsequently the DRC government and more specific the Senate allowed Bemba to leave Kinshasa for Portugal on 11 April for medical treatment. The Senate allowed for a leave of absence of 60 days, which was later extended on Bemba’s request until 31 July 2007.

 

Bemba and his Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) have made it clear that he wants to return to the DRC but is not sure that he will be physically safe there. Public Prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba wrote to the Senate in April requesting that Bemba`s immunity be lifted so that he could be prosecuted as the "intellectual author" of the March violence. Mukeba said there had been no change in the government`s plans to put Bemba on trial, but that he was waiting for a response from parliament. Bemba is accused of threatening state security, murder, armed robbery and destruction of property during the fighting, which erupted in March after his fighters refused to report for demobilisation.

 

 It is believed that the international community is working behind the screens in an attempt to facilitate Bemba’s return. The media in Kinshasa keeps the story running with daily coverage. L’Observateur says that the Senate should now be recording the Senator’s absences, arguing that “under the Senate’s regulation; a senator loses his mandate after failing to attend a quarter of the plenary sessions without any serious reasons.” Le Potentiel’s rejoinder is that “debates around Jean-Pierre Bemba’s return are groundless,” explaining, “… the two ordinary sessions of the Parliament are to be held respectively in October 2007 and April 2008; therefore Senator Jean-Pierre Bemba may extend his stay for the moment without any problem since the Senate must first hold two ordinary sessions without the senator’s participation.”

 

As to the possibility of the Senate lifting immunity, this has become far less likely following the election of Leon Kengo wa Dondo, as Speaker of this chamber. He was a close associate and former prime minister of Marshal Mobutu, former president of the republic of Zaire, who secured his new office by virtue of winning the votes of 55 Senators, against 49 for his challenger Leonard She Okitundu of the Alliance for a Presidential Majority (AMP). Though he is able to present himself as a moderate and neutral, Kengo openly backed Bemba in the second round of the presidential elections.

 

The burning question in Kinshasa is whether Bemeba will return to Kinshasa if the Senate continues to grant him immunity? Indications are that Bemba plans to return, and this raises further issues concerning the country’s political stability. How would the government react should he arrive at the airport to be met by thousands of supporters and given a hero’s welcome, which is a distinct possibility? His supporters could even escort him into Kinshasa. This might again precipitate clashes between government forces and Bemba supporters. The international community is concerned about such a scenario playing itself out and is doing everything possible to try and prevent this. But the non-return of Bemba will also have a profound influence on DRC’s political future, and raise serious questions about Kabila’s commitment to the consolidation of a democratic political culture.

 

Henri Boshoff, Military Analyst, African Security and Analysis Programme, ISS Tshwane (Pretoria)