Sam Engola Arrested In Congo

Aug 30, 2002

Kinshasa government minister for human rights Tumba Lwamba and a renown Uganda businessman Sam Engola (right) have been arrested and detained by rival Congolese militia groups in Bunia and Beni, reports <b>E. Allio.</b>

Kinshasa government minister for human rights Tumba Lwamba and a renown Uganda businessman Sam Engola (right) have been arrested and detained by rival Congolese militia groups in Bunia and Beni, reports E. Allio.Engola and five Russian crew members of Antonov-8 aircraft, were arrested on Monday in Beni by Mbusa Nyamwisi’s RCD-Liberation Movement rebels. The aircraft was impounded. The rebels accused Engola, the proprietor of Showa trading company and Air Sofia, of using his aircraft to supply arms to Isiro from Kampala.. Mbusa said Engola is a staunch supporter of RCD-National rebel group of Roger Lumbala whose forces early this year grabbed from Mbusa the diamond- and gold-rich towns of Isiro, Wamba and Bafwasende. In the past week, fighting has raged on between Mbusa and Lumbala’s forces for the control of the gold-rich town of Watsa.Engola’s business colleagues were reportedly yesterday in talks with Mbusa’s top officials in Kampala, negotiating for Engola’s release. Engola’s plane operate weekly flights between Entebbe and Beni/Isiro. Sources said Joseph Kabila’s minister was arrested on Thursday and was being detained in an undisclosed location outside Bunia town by a radical Hema militia group loyal to Toma Lubanga, a former Nyamwisi defence minister.The minister had flown to Bunia from Kinshasa, through Entebbe International Airport, in the company of Lubanga. Sources said the minister’s mission was to reconcile the Kinshasa and the Hema who accuse Kinshasa of backing Mbusa Nyamwisi and arming the Lendu.Lubanga and many of his loyalists were flown to Kinshasa early last month after being arrested in Bunia by the UPDF who accused them of fomenting trouble in Bunia against the Lendu ethnic group and Mbusa’s administration. In a strange twist of events, Mbusa’s governor in Bunia, Jean Pierre Mulondo, fled the town early this month when the UPDF moved in after the discovery of two mass graves behind the governor’s residence. The graves contained 98 bodies of mostly Hema women and children.Kabila’s minister and RCD-ML secretary general Sumayili Koloso blamed the Bunia massacres on the UPDF, but the army denied this.Sources said Hema militias want Kabila’s government to release all Hema leaders in Kinshasa jails before they release Lwamba.Kabila’s minister for national security, Mwenze Kongolo, and the minister for the presidency, Katumba Mwanke, arrived in Kampala yesterday for talks with their Ugandan counter-parts.Other sources said Kinshasa wants UPDF to pull out of Bunia and give way to the Kinshasa police force. But Jean Pierre Bemba, Congolese Liberation Movement boss, is opposed to this.Kampala authorities appear unsure who will take control of Bunia once the UPDF pulls out. Bemba backs RCD-National rebel group of Roger Lumbala whose forces were yesterday battling Mbusa forces for the control of the gold-rich town of Watsa.Engola’s plight may worsen as Beni is now in control of Mbusa forces after the 19th battalion of UPDF pulled out this week. The fighting in Bunia and Watsa is threatening the Sun City ceasefire agreement.Ends

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