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class=\u0022js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__297808__en\u0022\u003E\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022blog-block__content__description rich-text pt-6 mb:pt-10 mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EIn a groundbreaking investigation published on Thursday by Bloomberg News, journalists for the first time \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2016-12-15\/with-his-family-fortune-at-stake-congo-president-kabila-digs-in\u0022\u003Emap out the sprawling business network\u003C\/a\u003E President Joseph Kabila and his family have amassed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022embed\u0022 data-type=\u0022image\u0022\u003E\n\n\n \n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022embed align-right embedded-entity embedded-entity-type-media embedded-entity-bundle-image embedded-entity-viewmode-embeddable embed--right\u0022 xmlns:xlink=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\u0022\u003E\n \n\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \n \n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\u0022figure figure--expand text-center info \u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__media relative inline-block mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/modal\/30005\u0022 rel=\u0022modal:open\u0022 class=\u0022figure__link\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cimg loading=\u0022lazy\u0022 srcset=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/480w\/public\/multimedia_images_2016\/2016-10-drc-africa-congo-president-kabila.jpg?itok=4zvL6DVW 480w, \/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/embed_xxl\/public\/multimedia_images_2016\/2016-10-drc-africa-congo-president-kabila.jpg?itok=BSSa7CKz 946w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(max-width: 524px) 100px, 500px\u0022 width=\u0022946\u0022 height=\u0022618\u0022 data-responsive-image-style=\u0022embedded_images\u0022 src=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/embed_xxl\/public\/multimedia_images_2016\/2016-10-drc-africa-congo-president-kabila.jpg?itok=BSSa7CKz\u0022 alt=\u0022Democratic Republic of Congo\u0027s President Joseph Kabila arrives for a southern and central African leaders\u0027 meeting to discuss the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Luanda, Angola, October 26, 2016.\u0022\u003E\n\n\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__expand absolute block bottom-0 right-0 w-8 h-8 bg-white text-gray-700\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022sr-only\u0022\u003EClick to expand Image\u003C\/span\u003E\n \n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022icon fill-current w-full inline-block\u0022\u003E\n \u003Csvg viewBox=\u00220 0 20 20\u0022 fill=\u0022currentColor\u0022 role=\u0022img\u0022 focusable=\u0022false\u0022 aria-hidden=\u0022true\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022\/themes\/custom\/hrw_design\/dist\/app-drupal\/assets\/spritemap.svg?cacheBuster=250315#sprite-expand\u0022 \/\u003E\n \u003C\/svg\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022figure__info text-left font-serif text-xs md:text-sm lg:text-base mx-auto text-gray-700 mt-1\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__caption\u0022\u003EDemocratic Republic of Congo\u0027s President Joseph Kabila arrives for a southern and central African leaders\u0027 meeting to discuss the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Luanda, Angola, October 26, 2016.\n\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__credit\u0022\u003E\u00a9 2016 Reuters\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n \u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the past year, journalists Michael Kavanagh, Thomas Wilson, and Franz Wild, with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Congo Research Group, analyzed thousands of company documents and court filings and interviewed dozens of stakeholders. They found that the Kabila family \u2013 including the president, his wife, two children, and eight of his siblings \u2013 is involved in at least 70 companies that have brought hundreds of millions of dollars to the family. Two of the family businesses own diamond permits running along 450 miles of the country\u2019s southwestern border with Angola.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTogether the Kabilas have built a network of businesses that reaches into every corner of Congo\u2019s economy,\u201d the report said. \u201cThe sprawling network may help explain why the president is ignoring pleas by the U.S., the European Union and a \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/congoresearchgroup.org\/new-crgberci-report-nationwide-political-opinion-poll\/\u0022\u003Emajority of the Congolese people\u003C\/a\u003E to hand over power next week, though his advisers dispute this.\u201d Kabila\u2019s term of office ends December 19, as mandated by Congo\u2019s constitution.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Francis Kalombo, one of Kabila\u2019s close allies until he joined the opposition last year, Kabila says in private that he\u2019s staying put. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to do all that he\u2019s doing, make all this effort, for one more year,\u201d Kalombo told the journalists. \u201cFor him, it\u2019s for life.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe study also found how the family has relied on the Republican Guard \u2013 an elite force of some 12,000 soldiers whose primary responsibility is to protect the president \u2013 to secure their business interests and landholdings, often through intimidation and fear. In one of the diamond concessions owned by the family, the Bloomberg journalists described how they saw diamond diggers hand over \u201cbuckets of potentially gem-filled gravel as an informal tax\u201d when the Republican Guard soldiers came by. In a cobalt deposit known as Wisky, where diggers say they \u201cworked for the presidential family under the supervision of Republican Guard soldiers,\u201d more than 100 diggers died in cave-ins during a six-week period in late 2015, according to a report by the Belgian magazine Moustique. A digger interviewed by Bloomberg said the total number killed was significantly higher.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Bloomberg report also documented how Republican Guard soldiers accompanied the president\u2019s wife, Olive Lembe, after she bought a cattle farm in Kilolirwe, North Kivu and demanded that farmers \u201cremove their makeshift homes or watch soldiers destroy them.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHuman Rights Watch has also documented how the first lady relied on the Republican Guard to force families out of their homes after she acquired the land they were living on. More than 20 witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Republican Guard soldiers burned several dozen homes in Kilolirwe in July 2014, telling inhabitants \u201cto leave, go away.\u201d The previous month the village chief had told the population to leave: \u201cOlive Lembe asked me to tell you that she has already bought the land.\u201d The first lady appeared at a later public gathering, ordering the population to leave or face expulsion.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Bloomberg report ends with a reflection from the former head of credit at a bank in Congo dominated by the president\u2019s family: Those who are \u201creally keeping Kabila in power,\u201d he says, are \u201cthe network of people running the private businesses of the family. \u2026If you want Kabila to pay attention, you have to target the financiers.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null},{"command":"insert","method":"prepend","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__297808__en","data":"","settings":null}]