Concern over detention of elder Kabila’s adviser

The friends and family of Emile Mota, the arrested economics adviser of the late president Laurent-Desire Kabila, have expressed concern over his conditions of detention. In a message received by IRIN on Tuesday, they said he had been held at Pavillion I, the “worst ward” at Kinshasa’s Makala prison, for the past two weeks “as the sole witness to the assassination of president Kabila”. In his “only” contact with the outside world, Mota said the Zimbabwean soldiers guarding him were only allowing him to be fed every two days, the message claimed. It described his health condition as precarious. “Interrogation should not be done from a prison cell and if his detention is for his ‘protection’, it should be done under humane conditions,” the message added. In an interview with ‘The Independent’ newspaper of Britain after Kabila’s assassination in January, Mota said he was alone with the president at the time of his death. The bodyguard who killed Kabila was trusted and raised no suspicions when he entered the Marble Palace in Kinshasa and shot the president at point blank range, according to Mota’s account. He said he believed the shooting was premeditated, but had no idea of the motive. The bodyguard, who originated from Bukavu in South Kivu, was himself gunned down.