Embattled DR Congo opposition figure in S.Africa hospital

Democratic Republic of Congo opposition figure Moise Katumbi, President Joseph Kabila’s powerful rival who has been charged with undermining state security, is to spend a second night in hospital in South Africa, an aide said Saturday.

Concerns have been mounting at home and abroad that Kabila, who took power on his father’s assassination in 2001, intends to extend his rule despite being constitutionally barred from a third term.

Katumbi was the leading challenger for the country’s top job after announcing plans to stand in the presidential election which is due later this year, but he was swiftly hit with a judicial investigation into claims he had hired foreign mercenaries.

He was charged on Thursday with “threatening the internal and external security of the state” but given the go-ahead a day later to leave DR Congo for medical treatment in South Africa.

On Saturday “he had various examinations including an X-ray and blood tests,” an aide speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.

“He’s fine. He’s making good progress,” the aide said, adding that Katumbi, 51, would spend a second night in a Johannesburg hospital, without giving its name.

Katumbi’s followers say he was injured during clashes between police and thousands of his supporters in Lubumbashi on May 13, with a source saying he was suffering from “respiratory problems” after being teargassed.

But his detractors claim he is feigning medical problems.

Katumbi has said the legal case against him, which followed the arrest of four of his bodyguards, including an American, was politically motivated, while Human Rights Watch has condemned it as a “targeted action” against a rival to Kabila.

– ‘Grotesque lies’ –

There are fears that Kabila will delay elections due to be held late this year at the end of his second five-year mandate.

Last week the Constitutional Court ruled he could stay in office beyond 2016 without being re-elected.

Katumbi’s brother Abraham, who was injured after being pelted with stones, is also in Johannesburg, the source said.

Katumbi, a wealthy businessman and former governor of the mineral-rich Katanga province, has denied the allegations against him as “grotesque lies”.

He was once an ally of Kabila but broke with him in September after the president announced he would carve up DR Congo’s provinces, including Katanga, into smaller entities.

Britain has warned it may seek European Union sanctions over “acts of repression” against the opposition.

Danae Dholakia, Britain’s special envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region, said she hoped the allegations against Katumbi were not “an extension of restrictions” on political freedoms in DR Congo.

“There are lots of red flashing lights,” she said.

Kabila’s supporters want the presidential elections delayed for two to four years on the grounds of alleged logistical and financial difficulties.

The country has been in crisis since Kabila’s re-election in late 2011 in polls marred by irregularities and massive fraud.

Last month police in the southeast of the country fired tear gas to break up a demonstration by 5,000 people in the latest unrest triggered by fears that Kabila plans to extend his rule.