{The National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) has expressed \u201cconcern\u201d over the delay in the implementation of the release of political prisoners almost a fortnight after the signing of the political deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).}<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are surprised by the delay \u2026 there are prisoners who had been announced as freed and until now we have not had proof that they are really released,\u201d said Bishop Fridolin Ambongo, Vice-president CENCO. Emphasizing that ordinarily, \u201cthese releases had to take effect immediately\u201d after the signing of the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are worried because the cases that were eligible for release after the negotiations are not followed until now,\u201d Ambongo added.<\/p>\n
We are surprised by the delay … there are prisoners who had been announced as freed and until now we have not had proof that they are really released.
\nNegotiations brokered by the Church between the government and the opposition resulted in an agreement calling for polls to be held later this year. The deal also prevents Kabila from running for a third term whiles giving the opposition the position of Prime Minister in a transitional government.<\/p>\n
Main opposition Rally delegates, the coalition around the historical opponent Etienne Tshisekedi, had presented \u201cseven particular cases\u201d of political prisoners and pushed for their release as part of the deal.<\/p>\n
Four cases had been approved by all parties for release, while three others, including that of the Moise Katumbi, a former ally of Mr. Kabila who joined the opposition in September 2015 and is currently abroad, remains in contention.<\/p>\n
The DRC was nearly plunged in a political crisis resulting from the postponement of the presidential election which should have been held late last year. Incumbent Kabila, who has been in power since 2001 was allowed to stay in power by a court ruling till elections are held.<\/p>\n
On 20 December, at the end of his term, at least 40 people were killed and over 100 others arrested, some tried and sentenced for protesting for the end of Kabila\u2019s term. The DRC has not undergone a peaceful political transition since its independence from Belgium in 1960.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{The National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) has expressed \u201cconcern\u201d over the delay in the implementation of the release of political prisoners almost a fortnight after the signing of the political deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).} \u201cWe are surprised by the delay \u2026 there are prisoners who had been announced as freed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2539],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-31824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-africa-news"],"bylines":[{"id":2539,"name":"Africa News","slug":"africa-news","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2539,"name":"Africa News","slug":"africa-news","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31824"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=31824"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=31824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}