Followers of a politico-sectarian movement were killed Friday in Kinshasa during the assault of the Congolese police against the residence of their guru, arrested for "rebellion" , "attack on the security of the State" and "incitement tribal hatred ”.
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Former MP Zacharie Badiengila, aka Ne Muanda Nsemi, was arrested at midday after an almost hour-long clash between the police and his followers, security forces said. Shots and detonations of tear gas were heard, according to a witness on the spot. The operation had started the day before when the police surrounded the residence of Ne Muanda Nsemi, who had proclaimed himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in early January on the grounds of "a divine coup".
As of Thursday evening, dozens of followers of his "Bundu Dia Kongo" movement had challenged the security forces around his residence located along a path called ... avenue Haute Tension. Officials have tried to reason with the ex-deputy, whose movement is behind three episodes of deadly violence in recent days in the neighboring province of Kongo-Central west of Kinshasa. The police assault came "after several negotiations had failed" to bring Ne Muanda Nsemi to the Congolese courts, Interior Minister Gilbert Kankonde confirmed in the evening.
Injured in the head, Ne Muana Nsemi was hospitalized before being taken to a police station from where he must be transferred to the prosecution. The authorities took a long time to communicate clearly on the human toll of the assault. In his press release published Friday evening, the Minister of the Interior evokes "a provisional assessment" of "eight dead" , without further details. The words "eight dead" were handwritten in the body of the press release, which reported "35 injured" and 168 people arrested, including eight women.
Separatists
"On the police side, eight seriously injured police have been registered , " the statement added, suggesting that the dead are on the adepts' side. Joined by AFP, a witness present on the spot claims to have seen fifteen bodies of followers after the assault, as well as dozens of wounded on both sides. Bodies were evacuated to two morgues in Kinshasa, said a UN source in Kinshasa without further details. In another press release, the Kinshasa provincial police station praised the "professionalism" of the police, "despite the resistance opposed" by supporters of the politico-religious guru, without any mention of the human toll.
The police, however, convicted police officers who looted "property found in the residence of Zacharie Badiengila. These unacceptable acts will be punished ”. Since April 13, around twenty people, followers and police, have been killed in three clashes in the Kongo-Central province neighboring Kinshasa, along the RN1. This route is of vital importance since it connects Kinshasa (at least ten million inhabitants) to its only maritime outlets, the ports of Matadi and Muanda. Supporters of a split of a Kongo Central, the separatists of the "BDK" wanted to attack the "non-natives" of Kongo-Central, that is to say the Congolese from other provinces.
At the end of March, the police had dispersed in Kinshasa a BDK rally which violated the ban on any public gathering of more than 20 people, a provision of the "state of health emergency" decreed by the head of state in front of the Covid-19. The Bundu Dia Kongo say they want to reconstitute the kingdom of Kongo as it existed in the 15th century, before colonization, from Angola to Gabon. Former chemistry teacher, Ne Muanda Nsemi had already escaped from Kinshasa central prison in June 2017. He made his public reappearance in early 2019 after the inauguration of the new president of the Republic Félix Tshisekedi.