Background Briefing

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Repressing Political Protest

Several political leaders and parties, including the popular Union Démocratique pour le Progès Social (UDPS), have criticized repeated delays in holding elections, which were originally set for the end of the transition period, June 30, 2005, but with the possibility of a one-year extension to June 30, 2006.19   In late June2005, UDPS supporters demonstrated in various cities across the DRC, protesting the government decision to extend the period of transition for one year. In Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai Oriental and the UDPS stronghold, security forces opened fire during demonstrations, killing fifteen demonstrators and injuring another twenty-six. Several people, including some UDPS leaders, were arbitrarily arrested and held for days or weeks, and some of them were ill-treated in detention. After an investigation, the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC) found that Congolese forces had used excessive and unjustified force in dispersing the demonstrators.20

Clamping down on political opponents, March–June 2006

In other more recent cases, police officers have used excessive force against demonstrators, and other forms of intimidation against supporters of the UDPS and other political parties, making it more difficult for Congolese to express their opinions through peaceful protests.

  • On March 10, police broke up a peaceful UDPS demonstration in Kinshasa, beating demonstrators and briefly detaining fifteen of them.21
  • On May 14, Pastor Fernando Kutino, founder of an evangelical religious movement, was arrested after criticizing excessive foreign influence over the government during a well-attended service in a Kinshasa stadium. He was also accused of being in possession of weapons. The pastor had left the country in 2003 after being accused of preaching revolt, and had just returned.  A few days after Kutino’s arrest, his colleague, Pastor Bompere, was also arrested.22 They are both still in detention at this writing.
  • Security forces surrounded the homes of several opposition leaders, including presidential candidates Roger Lumbala, Anatole Matusila, Joseph Olenghankoy and Christophe Mboso Nkodia Mpwanga, for a few hours on the evening of May 23. No reason was given for the action, which appeared to be an attempt at intimidation. Olenghankoy's political party, like the much larger UDPS, has protested against electoral delays.

[19] The Accord global et inclusif sur la transition en République Démocratique du Congo permitted the postponement of the end of the transition period by one year in total (Chapter IV). The newly-adopted Constitution, however, lifts the time limit, by stating that political institutions will remain in place until new institutions as foreseen by the Constitution are put in place (Art. 222).

[20] MONUC Human Rights Section, “Rapport sur les événements de Mbuji Mayi, province de Kasai Oriental, Juin 2005,” [online] http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-6F67WA?OpenDocument (retrieved June 2, 2006). The report found that security forces “summarily or arbitrarily executed fifteen persons” and “shot another twenty-six in an attempt to summarily or arbitrarily execute them” during the demonstrations.

[21] “Kinshasa: une marche pacifique de l’UDPS violemment étouffée par la police,” Radio Okapi, [online] http://www.radiookapi.net/article.php?id=4116 (retrieved June 2, 2006).

[22] Comité des Observateurs des Droits de l’Homme (CODHO), “RD Congo: Réquisition illégale du matériel de la Radio Télé Message de Vie,” Press release, May 24, 2006.


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