DR Congo president pledges amnesty for political prisoners
KINSHASA: Recently elected DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi pledged on Saturday to pardon political prisoners and said he would work for the return of those who had fled abroad for political reasons.
“To consolidate democratic progress in our country, I have decided to make the easing of tensions a major goal during the first 100 days” of his mandate, Tshisekedi told Congolese officials during a ceremony.
“Within 10 days I am going to grant a presidential pardon in favour of political prisoners who have been convicted by a final court judgement,” he said.
“The president added that he would have the justice minister order the conditional release of those held for expressing their rights, especially during political rallies held ahead of elections on December 30.
“Along the same lines, I am going to work hard to create the conditions for a rapid return of compatriots who are now abroad for political reasons, so they may exercise their activities within the rule of law and republican institutions,” the president said.
On Wednesday however, dozens of people were arrested during rights protests in DR Congo, activists said, in an incident likely to pose a fresh challenge for Tshisekedi.
The former opposition leader was inaugurated as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo on January 24, succeeding Joseph Kabila who had led the country since 2001.
It marked the country’s first-ever peaceful transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.
On Saturday, the new president presented a programme of urgent measures to be taken during the first 100 days of his term while commenting on the nation’s security, political and social situations.
He pledged that the judicial system would be administered “by honest people with irreproachable moral values, prepared to fight corruption” in the second-largest country in Africa. CAPE CANAVERAL: Spacex celebrated the successful launch on Saturday of a new astronaut capsule on a week-long round trip to the International Space Station — a key step towards resuming manned space flights from US soil after an eight-year break.
This time around, the only occupant on board Spacex’s Crew Dragon capsule was a dummy named Ripley — but Nasa plans to put two astronauts aboard in July, although that date could be delayed.
The new capsule blasted off aboard the Falcon 9 rocket built by Spacex — run by billionaire Elon Musk — at 2:49 am from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, lighting up the coastline.
The first and second stages separated without incident, placing Dragon in Earth’s orbit 11 minutes after take-off.
Every successful stage of the mission — whose planning suffered three-year delays — triggered cheers at the firm’s headquarters and at the Kennedy Space Center.
“I’m a little emotionally exhausted, because that was super stressful but it worked, so far,” Musk told a late-night press conference an hour later.
“It’s been 17 years, we still haven’t launched anyone yet, but hopefully we will later this year.” The next tricky step for the capsule will be docking at the ISS on Sunday at around 1100 GMT, with a return to Earth scheduled for next Friday. It is to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, and then return to Cape Canaveral. The mission aims to test the vessel’s reliability and safety in real-life conditions. Ripley — nicknamed in honour of the character played by Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies — is fitted with monitors to test the forces that future astronauts will be subjected to on takeoff and when they return to the Earth’s atmosphere and then land in the Atlantic, braked by giant parachutes. The mission’s successful start provided some immediate reassurance. At the press conference, Musk asked the two Nasa astronauts slated to fly in Dragon: “You guys think it’s a good vehicle?” They both nodded. “Seeing a success like this, that really gives us a lot confidence in the future,” said one of them, Bob Behnken. In another success, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, landing on a platform 500 kilometres off the Florida coast in the Atlantic. It marks the 35th such recovery by Spacex. “Today represents a new era in space flight” said Jim Bridenstine, head of the US space agency who sees the launch as a step toward the privatisation of low Earth orbit. “As a country, we’re looking forward to being one customer of many customers, in a robust commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit, so that we can drive down costs and increase access in ways that historically have not been possible,” he said. After the shuttle programme was shut down in July 2011 following a 30-year run, Nasa began outsourcing the logistics of its space missions.