DRC: the residences of Katumbi and his right-hand man searched in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi

The residence of Moïse Katumbi and that of his adviser Salomon Kalonda Della Idi were searched on Thursday 8 June in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. Military intelligence agents searched these properties from top to bottom, eight days after the arrest of Salomon Kalonda Della Idi. He remains being held in a military intelligence dungeon in the Congolese capital. He is accused of having links with the M23 hierarchy and the Rwandan military command.

The residence of Congolese opposition leader Moïse Katumbi in Kinshasa was searched by military intelligence. (Illustrative image) AFP PHOTO / PHIL MOORE

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi

When he is in Kinshasa, it is in this opulent residence in the GB district that Moïse Katumbi lives. On Thursday, neither he nor any member of his family was present when agents of the General Staff of Military Intelligence arrived.

Nothing was taken away according to the relatives of the opponent.

At the same time, another search was conducted in Lubumbashi at the home of his right-hand man, Salomon Kalonda Della Idi, on whom weigh heavy charges, including the preparation of a coup d'état.

Dieudonné Bolengetenge, secretary general of Together for the Republic, Moïse Katumbi's party, denounces the way in which this search was conducted: "What happened at his home in Lubumbashi is simply unspeakable. The agents cordoned off part of the area of his residence, evacuated all the people present in the vicinity, refused access to the lawyers of the owner of the place whose doors they forced to operate their package. "

The party denounces what it calls an "instrumentalization of state services" for political purposes. "This is harassment that only aims to muzzle the opposition and veil the inadequacies of the ruling power. We call on the regime of Mr. Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo to stop this provocation that tarnishes the image of our country and risks leading our country to its conflagration."

Aware of the current political tension, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, who was visiting the DRC, on Wednesday called on all political actors for more restraint and responsibility.

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Read on on the same topics:

• DRC
• Moïse Katumbi
• Félix Tshisekedi