The African Socialist International (ASI) denounces the assassination of Armand Mudiandambu Tungulu by security forces of President Kabila on 1 October 2010 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Brother Tungulu, living in exile in Belgian from Congo, was arrested on Wednesday 29 September 2010 at about 1.00 pm on Avenue de Libération (Ex avenue du 24 Novembre) for allegedly throwing a stone at “President’s Kabila.s presidential motorcade.”
It is being reported that Nicole Bondo Mwaka, a human rights lawyer, and her friend, Ms. Mado Mangambu, were arrested too.
The police accused Bondo Mwaka of filming the alleged incident and the immediate brutal beating of Tungulu by Kabila’s police.
At the time that this statement was made, they remained in the hands of security police.
Tungulu is a well known figure in Belgium, where he is a part of the democratic forces who organize for genuine change in Congo.
That is why it comes as no surprise that his death has sparked a huge emotional condemnation of Kabila‘s regime amongst the Congolese in Belgium, France, throughout Europe and Congo.
Protests have been organised in Brussels and Paris outside the Congolese Embassies.
There are rumours that Tungulu had been killed at Kabila’s presidential farm and others saying that he was killed at Camp Colonel Tshatshi, the present headquarters of Kabila’s security forces.
Under Mobutu, the Camp was the torture and execution centre of his opponents and Africans who resisted his neocolonial regime.
The reality is that he was killed with the approval of Joseph Kabila Kabange.
The Congolese general attorney announced that “Tungulu killed himself with a piece of clothe he used as a pillow case.”
While Jacob Baluishi of the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights told the AFP news agency: "We can't understand how somebody could have killed himself with a pillowcase when we all know that there are no pillows in the jails of the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)" (http://www.wolveswired.co.uk/news.php/95846-DR-Congo-Joseph-Kabila-critics-suicide-doubted).
It is reported that he has been already inhumed, because the brutality he suffered has completely disfigured his face, to the point that he became unrecognizable.
His rapid burial is against basic African traditional customs.
His immediate family in Europe, which includes his wife, Nzo mina Makola, and their three daughters – Karen, Gamma and Sarah – and his family in Congo have not seen the body of the deceased.
Kabila is encouraged to perpetrate such dastardly deeds by support he receives from imperialist powers and the absence of a Revolutionary National Democratic Movement on the ground in Congo.
Kabila’s action is more of a provocation. The killing of this brother coincides with the publication of the UN report, which clearly exposes the impunity afforded Kabila’s government, while calling for the reinforcement of the same regime.
Barely three months after the killing of popular human rights activists, Floribert Chebeya, and his driver, Fidele Bazana, by the same Kabila’s security forces, the killing of Armand Tungulu confirmed once again that the ballot box is neither proof nor a guarantee of a democratic government.
It does not matter if the elections are won with 50.5% or with 93% of votes.
It is the character of the state that counts. Whose state is it? Who is to be oppressed?
Kabila‘s state clearly indicates a determination to oppress anyone who is opposed to his rule.
A throw of a stone does not warrant beating your fellow citizen to death! Kabila‘s life was never in danger!
The Congolese’s state under Kabila is born out of 15 years of wars and war massacres against the people.
It is an army made of different military factions that includes Mobutu’s soldiers, Bemba’s MLC, Wamba di Wamba/Emile Ilunga/Ruberwa RCD’s and Ruberwa/Bosco Ntagana/Laurent Nkunda Batawre ‘s CNDP.
All of them are unpatriotic armed forces, created to terrorize the Congolese people and implement the will of the African petty bourgeoisie from Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.
They are all without exception at the service of North American and European imperialism.
The arrogance of Joseph Kabila Kabange depends on the support that he is getting from all imperialist powers for making Congo’s resources available to them for near nothing.
The international imperialists as usual are silent when it comes to the Congo. This incident happened almost opposite the Belgian school in Kinshasa.
Kabila’s power also depends on the weakness or absence of a revolutionary and democratic national movement which can mobilise and organise the masses of our people throughout Congo for the purpose of putting an end to these illegitimate and genocidaire states in Congo and throughout the region.
Democracy begins with the end of parasitic capitalism
We need a movement that is determined to put an end to the economy of parasitic capitalism, which kills our people by the millions while stealing riches.
The question of democracy requires the end to the genocide and the capitalist economy of genocide, which is parasitic capitalism.
This does depend on massive mobilisation of our people everywhere, driven with concrete ideological, political and organizational plans to make the masses of African workers in Congo in alliance with peasants, the only masters of the land.
This will come at the expense of servile and anti democratic and genocidal Congolese petty bourgeois forces who are prepared to sell Congo for their personal selfish benefits.
The state must be in the hands of the people, in the service of the people.
This state needs to be built. It does not exist. It does not matter who wins the elections or how transparent the elections are.
The Congolese colonial state since its existence under Leopold II, some 125 years ago, has been a machine of genocide against our people, an apparatus of daily oppression of the masses of people in Congo.
It cannot be changed because Tshombe or Mobutu have gone. It cannot be changed without a national democratic revolution.
This is why we are asking everyone to get in touch with the ASI, which is a vehicle that is calling for and showing the path towards the rebuilding, deepening and completing of the Congolese revolution of the sixties.
We Demand,
· The immediate dismissal of all the soldiers involved in the arrest and killing of Tungulu Armand,
· The immediate release of the lawyer, Nicole Bondo Mwaka, and her friend Mado Mangambu.
· The exhumation of Tungulu‘s body and an independent autopsy to determine how he was killed.
· Millions of compensations to Tungulu Armand ‘s immediate family,
· The end of all kind of extrajudicial killings and execution of the people
· The reopening of the nearby market where the incident took place, as this prevents poor families from selling their goods due to the neocolonial hardship imposed on them in order to survive.
We are calling on every one to attend the next ASI meeting where the recent UN report would be discussed and the way forward for the National Democratic Revolution in Congo.
Venue: Sojourner Truth Centre, at 161 Sumner Road, SE15 6JL, Peckham.
Time: 4:30pm, October 23, 2010
Contacts: 0208 265 1731, 07862 229 4364
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