In the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, tensions intensify around a complaint filed in Belgium against alleged members of the family of President Félix Tshisekedi.
At the origin of the case: a report of several local NGOs which accuse nine supposed to be close to the head of state of being involved in illegal mining farms, in the former province of Katanga.
Several sites would be concerned, notably in the territory of Lubudi, in the Lualaba province. But the president’s entourage denies these accusations. The explanations of Timothée Prince Odia.
Hundreds of inhabitants, from 27 local communities in the territory of Lubudi, in the province of Lualaba, demonstrated, on July 28, against what they describe as “Systematic looting” Mining sites, with them, with the complicity of figures close to power.
Men claiming to be the Tshisekedi family
According to Gabriel Kalenga, of local civil society and spokesperson for demonstrators, men claiming to be the family of President Félix Tshisekedi, escorted by armed soldiers, would illegally exploit several mining cobalt and copper concessions, in the province of Lualaba.
These concessions legally belong to the Boss Mining company, a subsidiary of the ERG Africa group, based in South Africa, which has signed an operating contract with Gecamines, a company which belongs to the Congolese State.
Gabriel Kalenga estimates that “This situation is caused by the invasion of these concessions, illicit exploitation, systematic looting and human rights violations committed on this exploitation perimeter by uniform men who secure these mafia, invaders, illegally installed, by defying the laws of the Republic. These invaders occupy and steal the minerals on the sites of Disele, Nkela, Sani, Kakanda North, Kakanda Sud, Kakanda West, Kimbedia, Rupampala and Mukondo “.
Last April, the NGO Desc, a civil society platform for the promotion and defense of economic, social and cultural rights in the DRC, published a report which denounced these mining looting, which would be committed by nine close to President Félix Tshisekedi.
Complaint filed in Belgium
Following this report, a complaint was filed in Belgium, on July 8, at the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Brussels, in the name of a collective of Katangais lawyers, by Maître Bernard Maingain
The latter, lawyer for the complainants, affirms that the files concerning the embezzlement are suffocated by the Congolese justice. Hence the choice of Belgium. According to Bernard Maingain, “The factors have been denounced to the office of the federal prosecutor. NGOs have never ceased to say that in reality, there is a real omerta which weighs at the management of the corruption files that they have denounced. And I am quite sensitive to this argument, because I have found that many NGOs support the reality of the denunciations intervened and are not ceased to mark their solidarity, Congolese is really a problem, in situations like this “.
“Dilatory maneuver”
The entourage of President Félix Tshisekedi refutes these accusations. In a press release made public, Thierry Nzonde, head of mission of the Congolese president for the Grand Katanga, denounces without foundation allegations. He claims that no mining site in the region is controlled by the presidential family.
For his part, Samy Kambala, president of the young UDPS Mutshatsha, the presidential party, believes that the complainants are instrumentalized. “”We know that it is a dilatory maneuver which aims to disrupt the President of the Republic which is resolutely committed to the restoration of peace in the DRC, he assures. Everyone behind this complaint meets the requirements of their master who happens to be the pilter of the DRC. This story of complaint filed against the family of the head of state is only a dramatic stroke which cannot disrupt Congolese opinion at this stage “.
While the procedure takes its course in Belgium, on the ground, in Katanga, the tensions remain lively around the mining sites.
