Belgian Member of Parliament Involved in Assassination Plot Against DRC President Kabila

President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has recently foiled an assassination plot by Belgian nationals. The mineral-rich Central African state was formerly colonized by Brussels., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Belgian MP involved in assassination plot against Kabila: Congo

Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:10AM GMT
presstv.ir

The Democratic Republic of Congo has foiled an assassination plot involving a Belgian lawmaker against President Joseph Kabila, the government says.

Congolese Interior Minister Richard Muyej said on Friday that the plotters, Belgian doctor Jean-Pierre Kanku Mukendi and former Congolese police officer Isidore Madimba Mongombe, were nabbed in February in the capital Kinshasa, Reuters reported.

The two men confessed to plotting to kill 41-year-old Kabila and overthrow his government, Muyej added.

"(Mukendi) admitted that this plan to attack the city of Kinshasa and physically eliminate the head of state was adopted at a large meeting presided by himself on January 20 in Kinshasa," he said.

The Congolese interior minister said Mukendi, with the help of a member of Belgium's Chamber of Representatives, had set up a group called "Mouvement Debout Congolais", or the Arise Congolese Movement.

"With the help of the Belgian member of parliament Laurent Louis, he increased his meetings with Congolese compatriots… (in Belgium) in the aim of preparing and finalizing their project to overthrow (Congo's) institutions," he said.

Kabila was chosen by the presidential inner circle to lead DR Congo after his father, Laurent Kabila, was assassinated in 2001. He was elected president of the vast mineral-rich African nation in 2006 and 2011.

Congo has faced numerous problems over the past few decades, such as grinding poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and a war in the east of the country that has dragged on since 1998 and left over 5.5 million people dead.