DRC: many questions after the incursion of an armed group in Lubumbashi

Lubumbashi center.

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5 mins

How did hundreds of Mai-Mai entered Lubumbashi and why no force opposed the Bakata Katanga for several hours?

The questions abound after the bloody incursion led by these Katangese separatists and this while the authorities in Kinshasa are walled in silence.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa

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For many Lush residents, there is a dysfunction in the hierarchy of the police.

The deputy provincial commissioner who is in charge of operations and the intelligence officer have been sidelined for a long time, denounces human rights activist Timothée Mbuya.

The associative activist Georges Mawine, evokes, him, the insufficiency of the personnel deployed really on the ground within the framework of the information.

Nearly 1,600 police officers, according to him, ensure the protection of mining sites against a payment which is paid monthly by the mining operators to the head of this body.

A very lucrative activity for officials of the security forces who devote themselves to it, testify many other Lushois.

No comments from the authorities

The other question asked is that of the very identity

last

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Thierry Mukelekele, a regular in the Bakata Katanga maquis, affirms his hand on his heart that Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga is not associated with this adventure.

The badges found on the ground prove it, said this communications officer for MIRA, Gideon's party.

According to him, having disowned in March those who manipulated him to profit from his activities, the leader of the Bakata Katanga is now in negotiations for his surrender.

Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga would have revelations to make, said Thierry Mukelekele.

Contacted by RFI, the provincial commissioner of the Haut-Katanga police has not yet responded to our requests.

Still, the toll of Saturday's attack in Lubumbashi is very heavy: about twenty dead, mostly attackers, several police officers were also killed.

As you can see, the weapons that are presented are very small in quantity.

More or less 300 people came, including women and children.

But these people did not have more than 100 weapons.

They are AK-47 [assault rifle].

Now we have heard detonations of shells, heavy weapons, which just means that the force that was used was disproportionate.

The police, before proceeding with the assault, nevertheless gave a sort of injunction, asked these insurgents to lay down their arms and surrender.

According to the information we received, they refused to lay down their arms and surrender and unfortunately they responded.

But what is true is that we are dealing with a less professional army, because if our army was professional, we could easily subdue these people without causing so much damage to human life.

It is truly deplorable what happened.

Timothée Mbuya, president of Justicia ASBL, an NGO based in Lubumbashi

Pierre Firtion

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