Political Clashes Leave one Dead in DR Congo’s East

Summary:

• An opposition party official, Dido Kasingi, was killed in clashes between supporters of presidential candidate Moise Katumbi and the ruling UDPS party in Kindu, eastern Congo. The violence erupted during Katumbi’s campaign motorcade. The opposition blames the Maniema governor for instigating the unrest, while the governor claims the victim was mowed down by a vehicle during an altercation in the motorcade. The incident adds to the political tensions in the lead-up to the parliamentary and presidential elections on December 20.

KINSHASA — An opposition party official was killed Tuesday during clashes between rival political groups in the restive east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, sources said.

The impoverished central African nation of about 100 million people is holding parliamentary and presidential elections on December 20, with campaigning having kicked off nine days ago.

Tuesday’s clashes erupted when a campaign motorcade of opposition presidential candidate Moise Katumbi was making its way through Kindu, the regional capital of the eastern Maniema province.

Witnesses said Katumbi supporters clashed with backers of the ruling Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party of President Felix Tshisekedi.

The unrest killed Dido Kasingi, a lawyer and father of six who was the president of the youth chapter of Katumbi’s party, “Together for the Republic”, a party spokesman told reporters in Kinshasa.

The opposition party spokesman, Herve Diakiese, accused the Maniema governor of instigating the unrest.

“The assailants set on the motorcade from inside the residence of governor Idrissa Mangala,” he said, saying it amounted to “an obvious premeditated attack.”

Reached by telephone by AFP, Mangala said the violence erupted “following completely barbaric behaviour” by the opposition supporters.

He said the victim “was not killed by the demonstrators, he was mowed down by a vehicle” in Katumbi’s motorcade during an “altercation”.

The mayor of the city where the violence took place, Augustin Mulamba, confirmed that clashes occurred between the supporters of the rival parties, without providing other details.

The DRC is in the grip of unrest, with dozens of armed groups active in its resource-rich east, where UN peacekeepers and East African Community troops are deployed.

The European Union said on Tuesday that a team of election observers it sent cannot spread out across the nation because of “security reasons”.