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DRC

DRC opposition chief Tshisekedi to run for president

Etienne Tshisekedi, the long-time leader of the main opposition party in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told RFI that the country is still a dictatorship, after announcing his decision to run for president in 2011.

Giuseppe Dominici/Open access
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The 77-year-old opposition leader, who has recovered from a two-year illness that saw him withdraw from the political scene, said he would return to Kinshasa from Brussels at the end of the year to secure formal nomination by the Union for Social Progress (UDPS).

Speaking to RFI during in Brussels, Tshisekedi claimed election sabotage was a strong likelihood during the next elections in the DRC.

“It’s a true dictatorship. The other parties are never allowed to organise themselves […] We absolutely need the international community to apply pressure,” her said.

Tshisekedi, who opposed the military-backed regime of Mobutu Sese Seko in the 1980s, accused current President Joseph Kabila Kabange of being “even worse” than Seko.

“We’re in a situation of non-statehood,” he said.

The UDPS boycotted the 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections in the DRC.
 

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