Congo Senate says ex rebel can go to Portugal

KINSHASA – Former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba may leave Democratic Republic of Congo within hours after receiving Senate permission to go to Portugal for medical treatment, a Senate official said on Tuesday.

Bemba’s private plane was on the tarmac at Kinshasa’s N’Djili airport on Tuesday, a source at the airport said, though there was no precise timing for his departure. Bemba has been under the protection of the South African embassy in the capital Kinshasa for three weeks since his forces were routed by government troops in two days of fighting.He has been waiting for permission to travel.”He will probably take a private jet in the next few hours,” Emery Bope, chief of staff for the Senate speaker, told Reuters.The Senate had granted Bemba an authorisation letter late on Monday, Bope said, adding that as part of the arrangement, the former presidential contender had given a written commitment not to “engage in political activities” while in Portugal.The United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo (MONUC), the world’s biggest such force at 17 000-strong, is expected to transfer Bemba to the airport from the South African diplomatic building where he is sheltering, possibly by helicopter.MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki declined to comment on any preparations to move Bemba, who led a Ugandan-backed rebellion against the Kinshasa government in Congo’s 1998-2003 war.Bemba, who is popular among Kinshasa’s 8 million people, lost an October run-off vote to President Joseph Kabila in the huge central African state’s first free polls in over 40 years.The polls were intended to end years of chaos and violence in Africa’s third biggest country, but ethnic militias still operate in some eastern areas and Bemba’s and Kabila’s forces have clashed several times on the streets of the capital.Foreign diplomats estimated between 200 and 600 people were killed in fighting on March 22-23 after Bemba’s bodyguard, numbering several hundred fighters, defied an order to disarm.Bemba and his family have visas to travel to Portugal, where he is due to have medical treatment for an old leg injury that was previously treated there, but Portugal had demanded written permission from the authorities for him to travel.Portuguese diplomats have said Bemba’s visit to the European country will not be a long-term exile.A Congolese presidency official who declined to be named said Kabila was visiting the southern province of Katanga and did not wish to comment on Bemba receiving permission to leave, as the Senate was an autonomous institution.Nampa-ReutersBemba has been under the protection of the South African embassy in the capital Kinshasa for three weeks since his forces were routed by government troops in two days of fighting.He has been waiting for permission to travel.”He will probably take a private jet in the next few hours,” Emery Bope, chief of staff for the Senate speaker, told Reuters.The Senate had granted Bemba an authorisation letter late on Monday, Bope said, adding that as part of the arrangement, the former presidential contender had given a written commitment not to “engage in political activities” while in Portugal.The United Nations peacekeeping force in Congo (MONUC), the world’s biggest such force at 17 000-strong, is expected to transfer Bemba to the airport from the South African diplomatic building where he is sheltering, possibly by helicopter.MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki declined to comment on any preparations to move Bemba, who led a Ugandan-backed rebellion against the Kinshasa government in Congo’s 1998-2003 war.Bemba, who is popular among Kinshasa’s 8 million people, lost an October run-off vote to President Joseph Kabila in the huge central African state’s first free polls in over 40 years.The polls were intended to end years of chaos and violence in Africa’s third biggest country, but ethnic militias still operate in some eastern areas and Bemba’s and Kabila’s forces have clashed several times on the streets of the capital.Foreign diplomats estimated between 200 and 600 people were killed in fighting on March 22-23 after Bemba’s bodyguard, numbering several hundred fighters, defied an order to disarm.Bemba and his family have visas to travel to Portugal, where he is due to have medical treatment for an old leg injury that was previously treated there, but Portugal had demanded written permission from the authorities for him to travel.Portuguese diplomats have said Bemba’s visit to the European country will not be a long-term exile.A Congolese presidency official who declined to be named said Kabila was visiting the southern province of Katanga and did not wish to comment on Bemba receiving permission to leave, as the Senate was an autonomous institution.Nampa-Reuters