Congo’s state prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for high treason against former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, a presidency official said.
The battles, the first in the city since landmark election last year won by President Joseph Kabila, started on Thursday when Bemba’s forces defied a government order to disarm.
"This is a rebellion … He has committed high treason," Antoine Ghonda, roving ambassador attached to Kabila’s presidency, told Reuters. He said the state prosecutor had issued a warrant for Bemba’s arrest.
When I read this story the first thought that came into my mind was that I had to tell Mushi. Mushi is a friend of mine from the Congo. We have spent many hours talking about his homeland and he has tried to help me understand the complicated web of events that lead to the Congo erupting in civil war. I know from what he has taught me that Bemba is one of the chief architects of that chaos.
When I saw him and told him the news, you could see the emotion welling up inside him. He had tears in his eyes and a smile on his face as he gave me a high five. "Bemba is a bad man. He is responsible for the deaths of many, many people" were his words to me. I knew that this would be important news to him, but I underestimated just how much it meant.
How could I truly understand what it means? I cannot even begin to fathom the horrors that Mushi has witnessed. The murder of his parents and countless others. The year in the jungle hiding from rebels. The four years spent in the Kakuma refugee camp. How can I know what it means to have your world shattered?
He has told me about the day his life changed several times, but I have never seen family members executed or heard gunshots aimed in my direction. Without living through it, one cannot truly know what it is like to experience something like that. I feel lucky that he has shared what he can with me. His story is an important one. It is a privilege to hear it.
There are some things that he won’t talk about. He has decided to let some of the demons of the past remain there. I can’t blame him. Part of me wishes though that we could sit down and put his story, his whole story, to paper. It would be an amazing and powerful book. More than that, I believe that Mushi has earned the right to tell his story. He deserves to tell the world what happened to his family.
That, however, is a discussion for another day. Today is a day to celebrate. Today a bad guy is being brought to justice.
