Suspected of wanting to destabilize the southeast of the DRC from Zambia, several dozen Congolese were repatriated by Kinshasa during an operation conducted with the approval of Lusaka.
Suspected of wanting to destabilize the southeast of the DRC from Zambia, several dozen Congolese were repatriated by Kinshasa during a high secret operation headed by General Tshibangu conducted with the approval of Lusaka.
The operation remained secret despite the significant system put in place by Kinshasa. Under the leadership of General John Tshibangu, a plane was dispatched to Lusaka in mid-October to repatriate several dozen Congolese to the DRC.
According to Kinshasa, the men arrested – whose exact number varies from one source to another – are linked to the M23 rebellion, active in the east of the country, as well as to former general John Numbi, a former security official under President Joseph Kabila, who is now the subject of an international arrest warrant.
You can read more about General John Numbi here
The Congolese authorities suspect them of having fomented a destabilization project in the border provinces of the former Grand Katanga from Zambia.
Upstream, the operation was the subject of direct exchanges between President Félix Tshisekedi and his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema, who gave the green light for their extradition. Their repatriation was not a given, as the individuals arrested had filed a request for political asylum with the Zambian authorities.
In this case, Kinshasa was able to count on the support of Friday M. Nyambe, former Zambian ambassador to the DRC, appointed in 2021 to head the "Special Branch - OP", a security service within the presidency.
Among the repatriated individuals are some former senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC). This is the case of Lieutenant Colonel John Gasasira N’tawenda, a former member of the rebellion of the National Council for the Defense of the People (CNDP, from which many M23 leaders come), who was attached to military intelligence at the FARDC headquarters before his defection in 2023, and rumoured dead in March 2023 in war skirmishes in Masisi.However,,as many sources try to whisper of General John Numbi being among the arrested,that is not the truth,he is not among those arrested and repatriated to Kinshasha,however negotiations are on going for his repatriation.
He is reputed to have since joined the ranks of the M23, which is however disputed by a source inside the movement, for whom John Gasasira N’tawenda actually answers to the orders of John Numbi. Alerts in the refugee camps
For nearly two years, the government of Félix Tshilombo has been worried about John Numbi’s intentions in the former Grand Katanga, where the latter is still said to have powerful connections in the army.
Fears confirmed by the content of a legal procedure in Belgium, which revealed the existence of a project intended to impose the independence of Katanga that involved John Numbi in 2021.
Since then, Congolese diplomacy has been working, so far in vain, to obtain his extradition from Zimbabwe, where he was granted asylum. Kinshasa particularly fears a rapprochement of interests between the designs of John Numbi and those of the M23, whose leadership has long sought to multiply the hotbeds of tension outside the eastern provinces of the DRC. For several months, Congolese intelligence has been reporting information on the recruitment of militias in refugee camps in Zambia, as well as on the transit of weapons from the Mozambican port of Beira.
Alerts that led Kinshasa to act on the raid in mid-October, in coordination with the Zambian authorities.
Nearly two months later, however, questions are being raised about the modalities of this operation, which has not been the subject of any communication from the Congolese state. In particular, the timing, considered too hasty to uncover possible complicity on the Congolese side, but also the progress of the investigation since mid-October. General John Tshibangu is due to be questioned on this subject soon by the security services.
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