By Gael Masengi
An exclusive video uploaded on YouTube this past week by “Voice of Congo” news website, reveals
the brutality and dictatorship power of Joseph Kabila and his administration.
The 20 plus minutes private footage shot inside an airplane is set to show a
truly shocked populist Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi reacting
on the news of their landing authorization denial onto Kinshasa’s main and only
operational Nd’jili airport.
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| Frustrated, E. Tshisekedi speaking to a pilot |
Shot back in 2011 by one of
Etienne Tshisekedi’s aides, the never-seen- before video recording details the
tension, frustration and anxiety that grew inside the aircraft on the
afternoon of November 26 2011 when the opposition leader and his cabinet
members learned the news of landing denial from the “airport authorities” of the
DR. Congo. Coming back from a province where he was campaigning for the
presidential elections, Etienne Tshisekedi together with his wife and partners were
preparing for a last public meeting before elections and a triumphant
welcome-back rally 500 meters down on the ground where a crowd of his countless
sympathizers were waiting impatiently for him, unexpectedly a team of South
African piloting the airplane informed the passengers that the control tower
had requested the jet carrying Mr Tshisekedi to divert away and “land somewhere
else” as it would not be allowed to land in Ndjili airport tarmac, failure to
do so, there will be “real consequences”. Confused by “authorities” decision, a
worrying airliner pilot is shown on the video constantly looking at fuel
indicator and worrying to what to do next. Unlike many other countries, the mineral
resource enriched DR. Congo has outdated infrastructures, unpaved roads, of
course a dictatorial regime and one functioning airport where every
international and domestic flight arrives to and departs from.
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| E. Tshisekedi looking anxiously at the plane window |
Frustrated yet furious,
Tshisekedi on the video is shown addressing his secretary, advising him to
leave alone the pilot decide on the place on their landing. “Leave him...!” He
said angrily “if he is forced to land in Brazzaville [Republic of Congo], let
him do so… we have to land somewhere” continued a fuming Tshisekedi. After a heated debate, several unsuccessful attempts
to contact the airport authorities of Brazaville and minutes of flying back and
forth above the capital Kinshasa skies, the airliner is shown making an
emergency landing onto an abandoned military airfield of Ndolo, 17 kilometers
away from the initial landing field.
“After touring the country… my last stop before Kinshasa was Matadi” he
said to media “…before departing from
there, the airport management told me ‘the Congolese airspace is closed’, I
wonder who closed it and what for. Despite their decision we manage to take-off
anyway, arrive here [Kinshasa] as always the pilots took Nd’jili direction but
somehow we were redirected here” he concluded “I will send the Rwandan [Joseph Kabila] back where he belongs”
Eager to meet his partisans,
Tshisekedi ordered his driver 10 miles back to the main airport where convoys
of security force brutally dispersed with teargas and bullets a strong crowd of
his sympathizers. More than 30 people were shot and killed that day and many
more were seriously injured. Forbade to leave the airport, the 80 years-old
opposition veteran, Etienne Tshisekedi was escorted later that night by a contingent
of security forces and sequestrated under house arrest.
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