Friday, February 3, 2017

A00667 - Etienne Tshisekedi, Congo Opposition Leader for Decades
















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Étienne Tshisekedi, center, as he arrived in Kinshasa in July. CreditEduardo Soteras/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Étienne Tshisekedi, a cunning and relentless Congolese opposition leader who was a thorn in the side of his country’s big men for decades, died on Wednesday in Brussels. He was 84.
His death, in a hospital, was announced by his party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress. No cause was given. Confidants said he had diabetes and often flew to Brussels for treatment.
Mr. Tshisekedi (pronounced CHISH-sue-keh-dee) was the most powerful opposition figure still operating inside the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation plagued by violence and staggering corruption. With a few angry words, he could send millions of his followers into the streets, often at their own peril.
He played a leading role in nearly every chapter of Congo’s messy politics, remaining a potent symbol of resistance, especially in the slums of Kinshasa, the capital, to the very end.
In the last month, Mr. Tshisekedi was helping to oversee a delicate political compromise to ease Congo’s current strongman, President Joseph Kabila, out of power. His allies said his death could not have come at a more inopportune time.
Continue reading the main story
Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba was born on Dec. 14, 1932, in what was then Luluabourg (now Kananga), a colonial outpost in central Congo, the biggest country geographically in sub-Saharan Africa. He studied law and entered government service as a justice commissioner shortly after Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960.






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President Mobutu Sese Seko, right, of Zaire with Étienne Tshisekedi in 1996. CreditEric Gaillard/Reuters

For years, he alternated between friend and foe of Mobutu Sese Seko, Congo’s notorious dictator during the Cold War. One day he was the interior minister; the next, it seemed, he was under house arrest and being slugged by soldiers. Mr. Mobutu made him an ambassador to Morocco; a few years later, he had him tortured.
Few doubted Mr. Tshisekedi’s intelligence, but he did not always use it in ways that helped most Congolese. For instance, he was one of the drafters of the 1967 Constitution that turned Congo into a one-party state, enabling Mr. Mobutu to rule ruthlessly for more than 30 years.
In the early 1990s, after the Cold War abruptly ended and the superpowers retreated from Africa — and Congo (then called Zaire) began its long slide down — Mr. Tshisekedi became prime minister. The idea, with intense pressure from the West, was to get Mr. Mobutu out of office and bring a spirit of democracy to Congo.
But Mr. Tshisekedi and Mr. Mobutu despised each other. Their two-headed government was paralyzed by poisonous mistrust. Mr. Tshisekedi called Mr. Mobutu the Zairian Caligula.
By the mid-1990s, Congo was too sick to heal. A small rebel movement, backed by neighboring Rwanda, overthrew Mr. Mobutu and installed as president Laurent Kabila, a longtime guerrilla fighter and second-tier smuggler.
Mr. Kabila soon arrested Mr. Tshisekedi, and he was tortured again.
After Mr. Kabila was assassinated by a bodyguard in 2001, Joseph Kabila, his son, took over. Mr. Tshisekedi boycotted Congo’s first post-war presidential election in 2006 and ran against Mr. Kabila in 2011. After losing, Mr. Tshisekedi said the election had been rigged. International observers agreed that it probably had been.
Since then, Mr. Tshisekedi had remained active in opposition politics as leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress, one of Congo’s biggest political parties. As a lightning rod, he was able to keep pressure on Mr. Kabila. Just the faintest hint of a demonstration could clear Kinshasa’s streets. If one of his protests did materialize, scores of demonstrators were often killed by the police. (His followers also engaged in looting and destruction.)






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Zairian soldiers escorted Prime Minister Étienne Tshisekedi to his office in April 1997. CreditJack Dabaghian/Reuters

The only other Congolese politician wielding as much clout was Moïse Katumbi, a tycoon who owned a soccer team, but he fled into exile last year in Belgium.
That was why many analysts said Mr. Tshisekedi was so vital; he was able to continue to stoke the opposition fire from within the country. In his last days, he helped shepherd a compromise agreement between the opposition and Mr. Kabila under which Mr. Kabila would step down and hold free elections by the end of this year. Under the presidency’s term limits, he should have been out of office in December 2016.
With Mr. Tshisekedi now gone, many Congolese worry that Mr. Kabila will be even more inclined to drag out the transition or even try to wriggle out of his term limits. Analysts said Mr. Tshisekedi’s death amplified an already dangerous amount of uncertainty.
In September, in an interview at his villa in Kinshasa, Mr. Tshisekedi insisted he was strong enough to be Congo’s next president. He sat behind a vast desk cluttered with papers, wood carvings and plastic flowers. Air-conditioners blasted and acolytes lined the walls of his office, soberly watching him.
Mr. Tshisekedi accused Mr. Kabila of being even worse than the “Zairian Caligula,” Mr. Mobutu.
“Mobutu had force,” he said. “Kabila has force and repression.”
Several guests came in and out. Though Mr. Tshisekedi did not look frail, never once did he stand up.
His final handshake was strong. But it seemed there might be something wrong with his legs. He waved off any suggestions that his eight decades were catching up to him.
“I am capable of doing anything,” he said.
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Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (14 December 1932 – 1 February 2017[1]) was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A long-time opposition leader, he served as Prime Minister of the country (then called Zaire) on three brief occasions: in 1991, 1992–1993, and 1997.
Tshisekedi, was the main Congolese opposition leader for decades.[2] Although he served in the government of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in various positions, he also led the campaign against Mobutu, and was one of few politicians who challenged the dictator.[2][3]
Tshisekedi and his UDPS party, boycotted the 2006 elections organized in Congo on claims that elections were fraudulent and were systematically rigged in advance.[4]
He was a candidate for President of Congo in the 2011 elections that many national and international observers, notably the Carter Center, have said lacked credibility and transparency.[5] Having officially lost to incumbent Joseph Kabila, Tshisekedi nevertheless declared himself the "elected president" of Congo.[6] Policemen and Kabila's presidential guards were subsequently stationed at every corner that gives entrance to Tshisekedi's residence, placing him under unofficial house arrest.[7]

Early life and education[edit]

In 1932, Étienne Tshisekedi, son of Alexis Mulumba and his wife Agnès Kabena, was born in LuluabourgBelgian Congo (now called KanangaKasai-Occidental, Democratic Republic of the Congo).[1][8] Ethnically, he was a member of the Luba people.[9] Tshisekedi attended primary school at Kabaluanda (West Kasai) and obtained a doctorate diploma in 1961 at the Lovanium University School of Law in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa); he was the first Congolese to ever get a doctorate diploma in law.[10]

Political career[edit]

Tshisekedi's career was intertwined with the political history of his country; Congo won independence in 1960 from Belgium (which is one-eightieth the size of Congo geographically).

1960 to 2001[edit]

Advisor to Patrice Lumumba of the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), Tshisekedi left the MNC to follow Albert Kalonji on his secessionist adventure in Kasai, acting as Minister of Justice in the newly autonomous State of South Kasai.[citation needed] As a result of the loss of tax revenues from the rich Katanga and South Kasai provinces, Lumumba's government lost virtually all resources, and tried to suppress the secession.[citation needed]
In November 1965, Tshisekedi took part in the second Mobutu coup which led to the impeachment of President Kasavubu and his prime minister Kimba.[citation needed] Tshisekedi allegedly approved the execution of Kimba and his companions on the day of Pentecost, 2 June 1966.[citation needed]
He was a high-ranking member of the various governments formed by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who was president from 1965 to 1997. Tshisekedi helped amend the Congolese Constitution in 1967.[11] After the second coup of Mobutu, in 1965, Tshisekedi held ministerial positions.[citation needed] As such, Tshisekedi was instrumental in managing the country, allegedly based on the misappropriation of public funds and neutralization of all opposition.[citation needed] Tshisekedi remained in the Central Committee of the Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution, MPR) until the early 1980s.[citation needed]
Relations with Mobutu ruptured around 1980, and Tshisekedi was removed from Mobutu's government. At that time, Tshisekedi formed the country's first opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), to counter the ruling MPR. Tshisekedi thus became the main voice for opponents of the dictatorship, in the country that was then called Zaire. That status enabled him to mobilize public opinion and the international community, and he continued advocating for change during Mobutu's tenure.[11] In 1980, Tshisekedi was thrown in prison for criticism of Mobutu's repressive regime; he was imprisoned numerous times by Mobutu's government.
In 1989, during Mobutu's rule, several cases of his detention were described as unlawful by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.[12]
On 15 February 1982, Tshisekedi co-founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), which he continues to lead. The party remains popular in Congo's capital Kinshasa, the two Kasai and Bas-Congo provinces as well as other provinces,[13] with its main goal being a non-violent change to democratic rule.
According to Kapinga (Vice-President of the MPR), Mobutu kept a number of Congolese tribes happy through the "sharing of money" with the tribes' power brokers.[citation needed] Under Mobutu's regime, Aponet Potia (Secretary General of the MPR) tried delivering money to Tshisekedi in the middle of the night, but Tshisekedi refused it. Mobutu tried and failed on several occasions to persuade Tshisekedi to take the money.[citation needed]
With the country in economic turmoil in the early 1990s, partly due to Mobutu's loss of Western support after the Cold War, Mobutu bowed to pressure and promised a transition to multiparty democracy.[14] Tshisekedi, who was Mobutu's most determined and popular rival, became Prime Minister on three separate occasions.[14] The first lasted only one month (29 September 1991 – 1 November 1991) before Mobutu sacked him, and the second only seven months (15 August 1992 – 18 March 1993). Both times, Tshisekedi asserted that he was prevented from functioning properly by Mobutu. The third term, while Laurent-Désiré Kabila's rebel forces were marching on Kinshasa, lasted only a week (2 April 1997 – 9 April 1997) and was again ended by Mobutu's lack of cooperation. A month later Laurent Kabila overthrew Mobutu, in connection with the First Congo War.
Laurent Kabila ruled by decree and banned party politics until general elections planned for 1999.[3] In 1998, a constitutional committee drew up a list of 250 people who would not be allowed to run for President, including Tshisekedi.[3] He was sent into internal exile in February 1998, after he was accused of violating the ban on party politics.[3]
President Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001, and was succeeded ten days later by his son, Joseph Kabila. Tshisekedi refused to enter the government of Joseph Kabila, or the previous government of his father, and likened them to Mobutu.[11]

2005–2006 elections[edit]

In the run-up to the 2006 national elections, Tshisekedi decided to boycott the electoral process and the constitutional referendum because he believed they were rigged in advance.[15]
Joseph Kabila won the presidential election. Tshisekedi considered the elections of 2006 to be a "masquerade" and claimed that Kabila's election was decided in advance by influential people outside Congo. Kabila defeated Jean-Pierre Bemba, with Tshisekedi on the sidelines.

2011 elections[edit]

At a UDPS meeting in April 2009, the party indicated that it would participate in the 2011 election, and asked that Tshisekedi be their presidential candidate.[16] He officially confirmed his candidacy in December 2010 at a congress of his party in Kinshasa, which was the first official party congress since the party formed in 1982.[17][18]

Étienne Tshisekedi campaign sign
In August 2011, Tshisekedi sought to negotiate with other opposition parties to form a joint effort against incumbent Joseph Kabila.[19] This is Tshisekedi's first bid for the presidency since forming the country's first opposition party in 1982.[19] Candidates campaigned relatively freely, and Tshisekedi held large rallies. But neither candidate was prepared to admit defeat."[20]
Tshisekedi pointed not only to lack of democracy, but also lack of water and electricity, as reasons to elect him.[11] He said that a vote for him would be a vote for a 30-year fight to uphold the rule of law and good governance in Congo. Tshisekedi was supported by about 80 political parties, but he had adversaries within the opposition, such as Vital KamerheNzanga Mobutu (son of the former dictator), and Senate president Kengo Wa Dondo. Tshisekedi said that none of them had been in the opposition long enough to be credible.[11]
This time around, Bemba (the 2006 presidential candidate) was sidelined, on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged war crimes in 2002–2003. The election was held on 28 November 2011.[21]
Many national and international observers, notably the Carter Center, said the election was marred with serious irregularities and lacked credibility and transparency.[5] Tshisekedi rejected the results announced by the CENI, the body responsible for the organization of elections, saying that they did not reflect the will of the people, and declared himself the "elected president" of Congo.[22][23]Tshisekedi held a private inauguration ceremony after police used tear gas to disperse a public inauguration.[6][24]
Vital Kamerhe, a former ally of President Kabila, rejected the results announced by the CENI and said that Tshisekedi had actually won the election.[25] Several other opposition candidates recognized Tshisekedi as the victor, and called for the election to be annulled.[26]
In addition to the Carter Center, an observer mission from the European Union noted lack of transparency, and the archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya claimed that the results announced by the CENI did not reflect the will of the people.[27] These and other observations compromised the integrity of the presidential election, according to the Carter Center.[28] MONUSCO, the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, also voiced concern about the results.
The election result was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo.[citation needed] A day after holding a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on governance in the DRC, Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) of the United States Senate expressed deep concern about the ruling of the Congolese Supreme Court.[29] Then, on 20 December 2011, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed serious disappointment with the Congolese supreme court decision.[30]
Tshisekedi urged the armed forces to disobey Kabila, and added that he would offer a "great prize" to anyone who captured President Joseph Kabila.[31]

Post-2011 election[edit]

Tshisekedi's party headquarters was burglarized after his inauguration.[32] Tshisekedi was said to be under house arrest.[7]
The rebel March 23 Movement, which captured the city of Goma in November 2012, listed the release of Tshisekedi as one of their demands and claimed to be willing to leave the provincial capital of North Kivu if he was granted freedom of movement, among other things.[33]
Amidst rumors of serious health problems, Tshisekedi was flown to Belgium for treatment on 16 August 2014. Responding to the rumors about his condition, his party said that he was not seriously ill.[34][35] On 9 January 2016, Tshisekedi, who was still in Brussels and apparently still ill, released a video message in which he vowed that he would "soon be among you so we can unite our efforts to win". Observers noted that the opposition leader seemed "frail" and had trouble speaking.[36] He finally returned to Congo on 27 July 2016 and was greeted by a massive crowd of supporters upon arrival at the airport in Kinshasa.[37] At a massive rally in Kinshasa on 31 July, Tshisekedi demanded that elections proceed on schedule before the end of 2016, contrary to suggestions from the authorities that a delay might be necessary, allowing Kabila to remain in office.[38]
On 24 January 2017, Tshisekedi left the DRC to travel to Belgium for medical treatment.[39] The 84-year-old died a week later on 1 February in Brussels.[40]
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Étienne Tshisekedi wa Mulumba (b. December 14, 1932, Luluabourg, Belgian Congo (now called Kabeya Kamwanga, Kasai-Occidental,  Democratic Republic of the Congo) – d. February 1, 2017,  Brussels, Belgium) was a Congolese politician and the leader of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), the main opposing political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A long-time opposition leader, he served as Prime Minister of the country (then called Zaire) on three brief occasions: in 1991, 1992–1993, and 1997.
Tshisekedi, was the main Congolese opposition leader for decades. Although he served in the government of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in various positions, he also led the campaign against Mobutu, and was one of few politicians who challenged the dictator.
Tshisekedi and his UDPS party, boycotted the 2006 elections organized in Congo on claims that elections were fraudulent and were systematically rigged in advance.
He was a candidate for President of Congo in the 2011 elections that many national and international observers, notably the Carter Center, have said lacked credibility and transparency. Having officially lost to incumbent Joseph Kabila, Tshisekedi nevertheless declared himself the "elected president" of Congo. Policemen and Kabila's presidential guards were subsequently stationed at every corner that gives entrance to Tshisekedi's residence, placing him under unofficial house arrest. 
In 1932, Étienne Tshisekedi, son of Alexis Mulumba and his wife Agnès Kabena, was born in Luluabourg, Belgian Congo (now called Kananga, Kasai-Occidental,  Democratic Republic of the Congo). Ethnically, he was a member of the Luba people. Tshisekedi attended primary school at Kabaluanda (West Kasai ) and obtained a doctorate diploma in 1961 at the Lovanium University School of Law in Leopoldville (now Kinshasa).  He was the first Congolese to ever get a doctorate diploma in law.
Tshisekedi's career was intertwined with the political history of his country. Congo won independence in 1960 from Belgium (which is one-eightieth the size of Congo geographically).
Advisor to Patrice Lumumba of the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), Tshisekedi left the MNC to follow Albert Kalonji on his secessionist adventure in Kasai, acting as Minister of Justice in the newly autonomous State of South Kasai.  As a result of the loss of tax revenues from the rich Katanga and South Kasai provinces, Lumumba's government lost virtually all resources, and tried to suppress the secession.
In November 1965, Tshisekedi took part in the second Mobutu coup which led to the impeachment of President Kasavubu and his prime minister Kimba. Tshisekedi allegedly approved the execution of Kimba and his companions on the day of Pentecost, June 2, 1966.
Tshisekedi was a high-ranking member of the various governments formed by dictator Mobutu Sese Seko,  who was president from 1965 to 1997. Tshisekedi helped amend the Congolese Constitution in 1967. After the second coup of Mobutu, in 1965, Tshisekedi held ministerial positions.  As such, Tshisekedi was instrumental in managing the country, allegedly based on the misappropriation of public funds and neutralization of all opposition.  Tshisekedi remained in the Central Committee of the Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution, MPR) until the early 1980s.
Relations with Mobutu ruptured around 1980, and Tshisekedi was removed from Mobutu's government. At that time, Tshisekedi formed the country's first opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), to counter the ruling MPR. Tshisekedi thus became the main voice for opponents of the dictatorship, in the country that was then called Zaire. That status enabled him to mobilize public opinion and the international community, and he continued advocating for change during Mobutu's tenure. In 1980, Tshisekedi was thrown in prison for criticism of Mobutu's repressive regime. He was imprisoned numerous times by Mobutu's government.
In 1989, during Mobutu's rule, several cases of his detention were described as unlawful by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
On February 15, 1982, Tshisekedi co-founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS). The party was popular in Congo's capital Kinshasa, the two Kasai and Bas-Congo provinces as well as other provinces, with its main goal being a non-violent change to democratic rule.
With the country in economic turmoil in the early 1990s, partly due to Mobutu's loss of Western support after the Cold War, Mobutu bowed to pressure and promised a transition to multiparty democracy. Tshisekedi, who was Mobutu's most determined and popular rival, became Prime Minister on three separate occasions. The first lasted only one month (September 29, 1991 – November 1, 1991) before Mobutu sacked him, and the second only seven months (August 15, 1992 – March 18, 1993). Both times, Tshisekedi asserted that he was prevented from functioning properly by Mobutu. The third term, while Laurent-Desire Kabila's rebel forces were marching on Kinshasa, lasted only a week (April 2, 1997 – April 9, 1997) and was again ended by Mobutu's lack of cooperation. A month later Laurent Kabila overthrew Mobutu, in connection with the First Congo War.  
Laurent Kabila ruled by decree and banned party politics until general elections planned for 1999. In 1998, a constitutional committee drew up a list of 250 people who would not be allowed to run for President, including Tshisekedi. He was sent into internal exile in February 1998, after he was accused of violating the ban on party politics.
President Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001, and was succeeded ten days later by his son, Joseph Kabila. Tshisekedi refused to enter the government of Joseph Kabila, or the previous government of his father, and likened them to Mobutu.
In the run-up to the 2006 national elections, Tshisekedi decided to boycott the electoral process and the constitutional referendum because he believed they were rigged in advance.
Joseph Kabila won the presidential election. Tshisekedi considered the elections of 2006 to be a "masquerade" and claimed that Kabila's election was decided in advance by influential people outside Congo. Kabila defeated Jean-Pierre Bemba, with Tshisekedi on the sidelines.
In August 2011, Tshisekedi sought to negotiate with other opposition parties to form a joint effort against incumbent Joseph Kabila. This was Tshisekedi's first bid for the presidency since forming the country's first opposition party in 1982. Candidates campaigned relatively freely, and Tshisekedi held large rallies. But neither candidate was prepared to admit defeat.
Tshisekedi pointed not only to the lack of democracy, but also to the lack of water and electricity, as reasons to elect him. He said that a vote for him would be a vote for a 30-year fight to uphold the rule of law and good governance in Congo. Tshisekedi was supported by about 80 political parties, but he had adversaries within the opposition, such as Vital Kamerhe, Nzanga Mobutu (son of the former dictator), and Senate president Kengo Wa Dondo. Tshisekedi said that none of them had been in the opposition long enough to be credible.
This time around, Bemba (the 2006 presidential candidate) was sidelined, on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged war crimes in 2002–2003. The election was held on November 28, 2011.
Many national and international observers, notably the Carter Center, said the election was marred with serious irregularities and lacked credibility and transparency. Tshisekedi rejected the results announced by the CENI, the body responsible for the organization of elections, saying that they did not reflect the will of the people, and declared himself the "elected president" of Congo. Tshisekedi held a private inauguration ceremony after police used tear gas to disperse a public inauguration.
Vital Kamerhe, a former ally of President Kabila, rejected the results announced by the CENI and said that Tshisekedi had actually won the election. Several other opposition candidates recognized Tshisekedi as the victor, and called for the election to be annulled.
In addition to the Carter Center, an observer mission from the European Union noted the lack of transparency, and the archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya claimed that the results announced by the CENI did not reflect the will of the people. These and other observations compromised the integrity of the presidential election, according to the Carter Center. MONUSCO, the peacekeeping mission of the United Nations, also voiced concern about the results.
The election result was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  A day after holding a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on governance in the DRC, Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) of the United States Senate expressed deep concern about the ruling of the Congolese Supreme Court. Then, on December 20, 2011, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed serious disappointment with the Congolese supreme court decision.
Tshisekedi urged the armed forces to disobey Kabila, and added that he would offer a "great prize" to anyone who captured President Joseph Kabila.
Tshisekedi's party headquarters was burglarized after his inauguration. Tshisekedi was said to be under house arrest.
The rebel March 23 Movement, which captured the city of Goma in November 2012, listed the release of Tshisekedi as one of their demands and claimed to be willing to leave the provincial capital of North Kivu if he was granted freedom of movement, among other things.
Amidst rumors of serious health problems, Tshisekedi was flown to Belgium for treatment on August 16, 2014. Responding to the rumors about his condition, his party said that he was not seriously ill.  On January 9, 2016, Tshisekedi, who was still in Brussels and apparently still ill, released a video message in which he vowed that he would "soon be among you so we can unite our efforts to win". Observers noted that the opposition leader seemed "frail" and had trouble speaking. He finally returned to Congo on July 27, 2016 and was greeted by a massive crowd of supporters upon arrival at the airport in Kinshasa. At a massive rally in Kinshasa on July 31, Tshisekedi demanded that elections proceed on schedule before the end of 2016, contrary to suggestions from the authorities that a delay might be necessary, allowing Kabila to remain in office.
On January 24, 2017, Tshisekedi left the DRC to travel to Belgium for medical treatment. The 84-year-old died a week later on 1 February 1, 2017 in Brussels.


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