Exiled opposition leader Katumbi to return to DR Congo ‘on May 20’
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In an exclusive interview, DR Congo’s exiled opposition leader Moïse Katumbi on Monday told FRANCE 24 and its sister station RFI that he plans to return to his homeland on May 20 – three years on the day since he left.
“It is certain, on May 20, I will be in Lubumbashi,” Katumbi told FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman and RFI’s Christophe Boisbouvier in an exclusive interview on May 6.
Katumbi said that after returning to Lubumbashi he plans to set out on a nationwide tour, saying he wants to “comfort” the people of DR Congo, especially “families who have been ill treated […] and who have lived through hell”.
Katumbi said that the recent appeal court decision to overturn his three-year prison sentence was not the result of an agreement with President Félix Tshisekedi, but rather a judiciary system which is now free from political meddling.
In 2016, Katumbi was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison for alleged property fraud.
Katumbi, a former governor of Katanga, joined the opposition in 2015 after a fall-out with then president Joseph Kabila, who was forced out in January's election.
In Monday’s interview, Katumbi said that although he remains a member of the opposition, “we now have to look to the future.”
To watch Perelman’s analysis of the interview, please click on the player below.
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