Wamba “still in power”

The Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-ML), which governs the northeastern Bunia area, has stressed that a dissident attempt to overthrow its leader Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba has “completely failed”. In a statement, received by IRIN on Monday, the RCD-ML accused Wamba’s former deputy Mbusa Nyamwisi of trying to gain power “by the most criminal means”. Earlier this month, fierce fighting broke out between the two factions as Nyamwisi tried to stage a coup against Wamba accusing him of “inciting ethnic hatred” in the region.

In a bid “to avoid any confusion”, the statement stressed that Wamba was still the leader of the movement and, furthermore, the pretexts given for the coup attempt were “false”. “Our Ugandan, Tanzanian and Mozambican allies [brokering peace talks in Kampala between the two RCD-ML factions], have all condemned the coup and are helping us to neutralise any further attempts,” the statement said. It added that the dissident faction had no recourse to any official radio station. At the time of the coup, Nyamwisi’s faction announced over Bunia ‘Candip’ radio that Wamba had been overthrown.

The radio was eventually restored to Wamba by Ugandan troops and the “failure” of the coup attempt subsequently announced.