Banned Bemba denounces DR Congo vote as 'parody'

Former DR Congo warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba on Tuesday denounced a long-delayed presidential election as a "parody" after he was  banned from contesting and accused President Joseph Kabila of trying to hand-pick a successor by eliminating serious rivals.

Bemba was one of six presidential hopefuls excluded by the election commission from the December 23 vote.

He appealed the decision but the Constitutional Court late Monday upheld the ban, citing his conviction by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for bribing witnesses at his war crimes trial.

"The fact that one is choosing opponents... is very worrying," Bemba told France 24 television, adding that the restive nation would witness "a parody of an election".

"The Constitutional Court follows the government's orders... all this is to ensure that the government's candidate does not have a serious challenger," he said.

The former Belgian colony has not seen a peaceful transition of power since 1960.

Kabila, in power since 2001, has finally said he will not run again after keeping silent on the issue for months, fuelling tension and deadly unrest in the volatile central African nation.

The president, whose second and final term ended two years ago, has named his former interior minister Ramazani Shadary as his chosen successor.

Bemba declared his candidacy after making a triumphant return home from Belgium, with tens of thousands of supporters turning out to greet him after the ICC based in The Hague acquitted him of war crimes charges.

- Controversial judgement -

In June, a sharply divided five-judge ICC bench overturned Bemba's 2016 conviction and 18-year jail term for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his troops in the neighbouring Central African Republic in 2003.

However, Bemba and five co-accused were convicted on appeal of bribery, corruption and coaching 14 defence witnesses in his main trial.

Later this month, the international court will sentence the former vice president for bribing witnesses.

Bemba's party, the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), on Tuesday warned it could launch "large-scale citizen action" in response to his being banned from the presidential contest.

The party said it was establishing a crisis committee to "develop an agenda of actions" with other opposition groups to allow people to reclaim their rights.

"No one will be able to blame (the MLC) for a move towards large-scale citizen action," said its secretary general Eve Bazaiba.

Kabila, who took over in 2001 after his father Laurent-Desire Kabila was assassinated by a bodyguard, is an arch-foe of Bemba. His tenure over the vast mineral-rich country has been marked by allegations of corruption, inequality and unrest.

Bemba lost presidential elections to Kabila in 2006 and was later accused of treason when his bodyguards clashed with the army in Kinshasa.

In 2007, he fled to Belgium, where he had spent part of his youth.

He was then arrested in Europe on an ICC warrant for war crimes committed by his private army in the Central African Republic in 2002-03, when its then-president Ange-Felix Patasse sought his help to repel a coup attempt.

- Miniature Mobutu -

Bemba, who was vice president of an interim government in 2003-06, was born on November 4, 1962, at Bogada in the northwest Equateur province.

His father was a rich businessman close to dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled from 1965 until he was ousted in 1997.

He left the country in 1997 after Laurent-Desire ousted Mobutu. A war followed a year later and lasted until 2003, drawing foreign support on rival sides.

Bemba became leader of the MLC rebels, a 1,500-strong force backed by neighbouring Uganda and opposed to the Kabila regime.

The MLC, now a political party, on Tuesday also urged the ICC to be more "precise" on its ruling, saying Bemba had been unfairly banned by the Constitutional Court.