Congo Opposition Leader Katumbi Returns After Years in Exile

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic Republic of Congo opposition leader Moise Katumbi, who was barred from running in presidential elections, returned home after a court last month overturned a prison sentence.

The return of one of Congo’s most popular and influential figures will further shake up the political scene following the election of Felix Tshisekedi as president in December. Katumbi, 54, was greeted by tens of thousands of supporters as his plane touched down Monday at the airport of Lubumbashi, the capital of Haut-Katanga province.

A former governor of the cobalt-rich Katanga region and among Congo’s wealthiest businessmen, Katumbi left Congo three years ago after falling out with then-President Joseph Kabila and announcing his intention to run in the elections. Shortly afterward, he was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison for selling a property illegally and charged with hiring mercenaries. Congo’s highest appeal court canceled the sentence in April, while the top military prosecutor dropped the mercenary investigation the previous month.

Katumbi was an ally of Tshisekedi during much of his self-imposed exile, but ultimately chose to back rival opposition candidate Martin Fayulu in the run-up to the vote. Fayulu, who came in second, has accused Tshisekedi of making a backroom deal with Kabila to deprive him of his rightful victory – an allegation both men deny.

Tshisekedi has since pledged to govern the country in a coalition with Kabila’s allies after the latter’s political alliance won a large parliamentary majority. On Monday, Tshisekedi named a little-known member of Kabila’s alliance -- Sylvestre Ilunga, the director-general of the state railway company -- as his prime minister after weeks of negotiations. Ilunga is seen as a consensus candidate acceptable to both sides.

While some of Katumbi’s supporters are urging him to side with Tshisekedi, Katumbi is a member, alongside Fayulu and several others, of an opposition alliance known as Lamuka. Katumbi plans to “work to install Lamuka throughout the country,” his spokesman Olivier Kamitatu said late Sunday.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Clowes in Kinshasa at wclowes@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Paul Richardson

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