'Free Bemba! Free Bemba!'
2008-05-27 13:28
Kinshasa - As many as 1 000 people marched down a main boulevard in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital on Tuesday, calling for Belgian authorities to release warlord-turned-political leader Jean-Pierre Bemba.
"Free Bemba! Free Bemba!" the crowd shouted as they pushed toward the parliament building, blowing whistles and brandishing posters of the man who was the runner-up in the Central African nation's 2006 presidential election.
Belgian police arrested Bemba on Saturday on war crimes charges stemming from his time heading a militia that allegedly committed atrocities in Central African Republic's 2002-2003 conflict.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague had issued the arrest warrant on charges of rape and torture that were kept secret until he was captured.
'Bemba isn't a hoodlum'
Bemba, who was in his mid-40s, vowed to remain in the government as an opposition leader after losing the presidency to Joseph Kabila, and was elected as a senator. However, he was forced to flee to Portugal in April 2007 after being accused of treason in the DRC.
He also acquired a home in Brussels. Officials with Bemba's political party said the arrest was unjust and unnecessary.
"Bemba isn't a hoodlum," said Francois Muamba, the secretary-general of Bemba's party. "If they want to talk to him, they can present themselves wherever they want."
Muamba said he planned to present a statement on the situation to parliament on Tuesday. He refused to provide details about the statement in advance, but said the party was united in demanding Bemba's release.
The crowd of protesters in Kinshasa continued to grow at midday. Men and women on foot were followed by cars stuffed with Bemba supporters.
Joseph Kabila toppled Mobutu Sese Seko
"Bemba is a senator!" some cried - a reminder that his warlord past had faded in the minds of many Congolese as Bemba remanded himself as a key opposition political figure.
A number of former warlords had taken government posts since DRC emerged from years of fighting in 2002.
In a transitional government that paved the way for the 2006 elections, Bemba was one of four warring rebels brought in as vice-presidents in a move to unify the country the size of western Europe.
President Joseph Kabila's father was a rebel leader who toppled longtime ruler Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
Bemba ruled a large part of northeastern DRC during that country's 1998-2002 war as a warlord and rebel leader with help from neighbouring Uganda.
The International Criminal Court had charged that Bemba had full authority for the political and military decisions taken by his militia, which investigators said was responsible for widespread killings and hundreds of rapes - some of them children.
- AP