ELECTION
DRC presidential hopeful Moise Katumbi ‘locked out ahead of poll’
Campaign team of the self-exiled opposition leader says he has twice been refused entry to register for the December election
Kinshasa — Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi was twice refused permission to return home to register for the December presidential election, says his campaign team. The government has rejected the allegations. Katumbi, in self-imposed exile since May 2016, had planned to fly to Lubumbashi, his home town in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on August 3, but his jet was denied permission to land, according to his chief of staff, Olivier Kamitatu. Instead, he flew to Ndola in northern Zambia and tried to cross the land border on Friday and Saturday, Kamitatu said. The first attempt was thwarted by a closed border post, while on Saturday Congolese officials instructed their Zambian counterparts not to let Katumbi cross, Kamitatu said.
DRC Communications Minister Lambert Mende denied Kamitatu’s allegations, saying by phone on Sunday it was "one more manipulation" and that Katumbi did not submit a request to land or present himself to border officials. "Zambia’s ...
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