A presidential candidate in the Democratic Republic of Congo has called on the United States of America and other partners to sanction President Felix Tshisekedi, his associates and members of their families for the gruesome assassination of opposition Ensemble pour la Republique spokesman Cherubin Okende.
Bernadette Tokwaulu, the first woman to have announced her candidacy for the 2023 presidential election, says the political climate in the DRC is catastrophic following the assassination of Okende by suspected State Agents.
Tokwaulu, a former member of the AMP under former president Joseph Kabila who opposed the revision of the Constitution in 2014, says only sanctions by America, the United Nations, the European Union, Great Britain and other international partners will stop Tshisekedi’s appetite to plunge the country into total chaos in bid to keep political office.
She has demanded that in addition to imposing visa and financial sanctions on Tshisekedi, similar punishment should be extended to the president of the Constitutional Court Dieudonné Kamuleta Badibanga, the Commander of DEMIAP (Military Detection of Unpatriotic Activities) and their immediate families.
Tokwaulu says such steps will send a strong signal to the leaders of the DRC especially that the political assassination of Okende and the widespread political kidnappings have happened after directives issued by President Tshisekedi during a political meeting in Mbuji Mayi.
The brutal political assassinations and kidnappings are orchestrated and executed by officers at DEMIAP under the strict direction of the Head of State.
“I demand that America, Canada and European Union, among others impose visa and financial sanctions on President Tshisekedi, the president of the Constitutional Court and the commander of DEMIAP and their immediate families because from his speech in Mbuji Mayi, President Tshisekedi assumed a role of violating the human rights of all Congolese.
“The illegal mondus operandi can be seen in the brutal kidnapping of Salomon Kalonda and Franck Diongo which came with the blessing of President Tshisekedi and was followed up by the disappearance of Cherubin Okende until he was discovered in the mortuary,” Tokwaulu said.
She said that President Tshisekedi gave a solemn pledge to protect the lives of all Congolese through the oath of office but has failed to do so in the hope of keeping power.
Tokwaulu says Tshisekedi has failed to respect the rights of the opposition in the run up to the December 20, 2023 presidential election and does not deserve to be treated with any form of respect.
On July 13, 2023, Congolese woke up to a rude shock when opposition spokesperson Okende was found dead in his vehicle with his lifeless body riddled with bullets 24 hours after he was kidnapped from the premises of the Constitutional Court.
WATCH THE VIDEO OF MAMA BERNADETTE CALL FOR SANCTIONS
