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An opponent, deputy, and former minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Chérubin Okende, was part of the party of presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi. The former Minister of Transport had left the government in December 2022.
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According to official sources, Okende was found dead and his body riddled with bullets.
“The government learned with horror of the assassination” of Chérubin Okende, said Minister of Communication and government spokesman Patrick Muyaya on Twitter.
Sources of his party “Together for the Republic” said Chérubin Okende had been missing since Wednesday afternoon. He was expected this Thursday before a judge of the Constitutional Court concerning his declaration of assets at the time of his ministerial functions.
The spokesman for one of Democratic Republic of Congo’s main opposition parties was shot dead on Thursday, Reuters reports citing authorities.
— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica)
July 13, 2023
His relatives affirmed that he finally went to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to file a request to postpone the meeting. He proposed, in his letter, to move this interview to July 14. They said that was the moment when he disappeared. According to an official of his party, his bodyguard would have gone to deliver the letter and on his return he would have noticed the absence of Chérubin Okende and his vehicle.
This case comes as the political climate is very tense with the approach of the elections scheduled for the end of the year.
Mr. Okende, 61, resigned last December from his post as Minister of Transport along with two other pro-Katumbi ministers.
Moïse Katumbi had just announced his presidential candidacy scheduled for next December and the withdrawal of his party from the ruling coalition.
President Félix Tshisekedi, in power since January 2019, will be a candidate for re-election.
To date, more than a dozen opponents have announced their intention to stand against him. The main ones, including Moïse Katumbi, consider that the electoral authorities are in the pay of power and are preparing biased elections that risk leading to fraud and chaos.
