By JUAKALI KAMBALE in Kinshasa | Thursday, October 24
2013 at
17:00
The remains of the Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko
and former Prime Minister Moise Tshombe will be repatriated back soon,
President Joseph Kabila has announced.
Mobutu died and was buried in Morocco while Tshombe's remains are buried in Belgium.
“Necessary arrangements will be taken in order to
repatriate the remains of President Mobutu Sese Seko and Prime Minister
Moïse Tshombe in accordance with their respective families,” President
Kabila declared Wednesday in a speech to the DR Congo parliament.
The commitment, he said, would contribute to
national cohesion and reconciliation as part of the "national
consultations" he called for in September.
Around 900 people, among them political leaders
and civil society organisations, participated in the so-called national
dialogue aimed at analysing the current situation across the country
The situation is characterised by a large scale unrest and political misunderstandings.
The repatriation of the remains of the two political leaders was among the recommendations emerging out of the consultations.
Mobutu died in exile in September 1997 in Rabat, after his ouster by Laurent Kabila, the current president's father.
Tshombe, who was the leader of the secessionist Katanga Province in 1961, died in Algiers in 1969.
Among others measures, President Kabila also announced an imminent Cabinet reshuffle.
He proposes to form a government of national unity, bringing together pro-establishment, opposition and civil society figures.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
