DRC's Tshisekedi returns to kick off presidential bid

KINSHASA - Congolese opposition scion Felix Tshisekedi returned home to Kinshasa on Tuesday greeted by tens of thousands of supporters as he kicked off his campaign to replace longtime president and foe Joseph Kabila in December elections.

"We will go with the people and we will win," said Tshisekedi, the 55-year- old son of the late Etienne Tshisekedi, the face of the Democratic Republic of Congo's opposition for decades.

He vowed to deploy teams of observers to combat election fraud, while his running mate Vital Kamerhe, a former speaker of parliament, said on Twitter that the pair made a "winning ticket."

Tens of thousands of supporters from Tshisekedi's main opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party and Kamerhe's Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) were on hand to greet them as they arrived at Kinshasa's airport.

Under an agreement reached on Friday in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, if Tshisekedi wins the presidency in the December 23 polls he will make Kamerhe his prime minister.

The pair withdrew from an agreement hammered out in Geneva earlier this month in which seven opposition parties coalesced around a joint candidate to boost chances of victory.

Their surprise choice, little-known MP Martin Fayulu, will now vie against Tshisekedi as well as former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, Kabila’s hand-picked successor. – AFP.

We will go with the people and we will win. I vow to deploy teams of observers to combat election fraud, — Felix Tshisekedi