Clashes in DR Congo leave 17 dead

Apocalypse now as leader’s tenure ends, cultists say

KINSHASA // Seventeen people have been killed in clashes between DR Congo police and members of a cult that believes the end of president Joseph Kabila’s mandate will usher in the apocalypse, a regional governor said yesterday.

Bienvenu Esimba, the governor of DR Congo’s north-west Mongala province, said the clashes broke out on Wednesday in the provincial capital of Lisala, when members of the sect burned dozens of houses and attacked a market before launching an assault on local electoral commission offices.

“The death toll from the clashes is 14 militiamen from the political-religious cult and three dead police officers,” said Mr Esimba.

The cult leader, Wami-Nene, was among those killed.

A Catholic priest said that cult members had started the attack. Mr Kabila’s second and final term in office was due to end on Tuesday, but he has refused to step down, sparking a political crisis in the country. Mr Esimba said the cult members, armed with assault rifles, had burnt 47 houses and attacked the electoral commission offices because they judged the institution to be “useless”.

Troops had to step in to neutralise Wami-Nene during the three hours of violence that ended at noon on Wednesday, he said, and that security forces had acted in legitimate defence.

The situation was calm by yesterday morning, Mr Esimba said. Lisala lies on the Congo river deep in the rainforest, about 1,000 kilometres northeast of the capital, Kinshasa. Also yesterday, DR Congo soldiers sealed off part of the country’s second city and carried out mass arrests of young men following the eruption of protests and deadly clashes over Mr Kabila’s refusal to step down.

The army sealed off the Matshipisha- Gbadolite neighbourhood of Lubumbashi from 5am, said city residents.

The governor of Haut- Katanga province, Jean-Claude Kazembe, was forced to flee Matshipisha on Wednesday after stones were thrown at him when he tried to visit the neighbourhood on a so-called peace march. The march was aimed at demonstrating that the authorities were in control in the neighbourhood following deadly violence on Tuesday.

Police said 22 people were killed on Tuesday during clashes in the capital and in the south-east. Human Rights Watch put the death toll at 34.