Politician to reclaim DRC passport

An exiled opposition heavyweight barred from returning to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to contest December’s presidential election has begun moves in Belgium to reclaim his Congolese passport, his spokesperson says.

Moise Katumbi, a wealthy business person and former regional governor living in selfimposed exile in Belgium, filed a passport application at the Congolese embassy in Brussels, the spokesperson said.

The 54-year-old left the DRC in 2016 after falling out with then president Joseph Kabila, who stood down in January after 18 years in power after veteran opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi won the elections.

On Wednesday spokesperson Olivier Kamitatu Etsu tweeted: “@moise_katumbi was at the DRC embassy in Brussels to begin the process of reclaiming his (Congolese) passport.”

Dual citizenship is illegal under DRC law. During the Kabila era, the authorities said Katumbi had acquired an Italian passport and thus had forfeited his right to DRC citizenship. Kinshasa also pursued a legal case against him for “usurping his Congolese nationality”.

Katumbi has been “unjustly deprived of his passport until now, and this basic right which every Congolese citizen enjoys must be reinstated,” Kamitatu wrote, accusing the Kabila regime of “political, legal and physical harassment” of him.

But he said there was no date for Katumbi to return home as the conditions were “not right”.

In June 2016 Katumbi was handed a three-year jail term in absentia for alleged property fraud. He has also been accused of hiring foreign mercenaries to act as his private guards. He denies these charges.

Until 2015, Katumbi who was born to a Greek businessman father and a Congolese mother served as a popular governor of his home province of Katanga, a sprawling southeastern region the size of Spain.

In August 2018 Katumbi tried to return home via Zambia to file his bid for the presidential poll but, he says, was prevented from entering the country.

In the campaign for the December 30 election, Katumbi and fellow opposition heavyweight Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was also barred from running, backed opposition candidate Martin Fayulu.

Fayulu came a close second, according to the official results. He maintains he was denied victory by a closed-doors deal between Kabila and Tshisekedi.

One of DRC’s wealthiest citizens, Katumbi is the owner of the Tout-Puissant Mazembe Football Club, which has won the African Champions League three times.

KATUMBI HAS BEEN DEPRIVED OF HIS PASSPORT, AND THIS BASIC RIGHT EVERY CONGOLESE CITIZEN ENJOYS MUST BE REINSTATED