BEMBA MAKES THEATRICAL RETURN TO KINSHASA

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000061 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SCUL CG SUBJECT: BEMBA MAKES THEATRICAL RETURN TO KINSHASA REF: 06 KINSHASA 1871 ¶1. (U) Transitional Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba, defeated in his run for the presidency in October, returned to Kinshasa from Europe January 14. He had been in Portugal, where he maintains a residence, recovering from a broken leg suffered here in December (reftel). ¶2. (U) Bemba pledged in his December concession speech to actively participate in "republican opposition" to the Kabila government. He is expected to be selected as one of eight senators in a vote by the Kinshasa provincial assembly December 19. His MLC party won four of the assembly's five leadership positions in elections December 14 (septel). ¶3. (U) According to a Kinshasa newspaper report, Bemba went directly from the airport to Kinshasa's Notre Dame Cathedral on arrival late in the evening of January 14 to pay respects to Archibishop Frederic Cardinal Etsou, a fellow native of Equateur province whose funeral was scheduled for the next day. ¶4. (U) Bemba and an armed escort returned to the cathedral on January 15. He arrived in after the funeral mass had already ended, with large group of supporters in tow, contributing to a tense atmosphere in the large crowd gathered at the cathedral. The same newspaper reported confrontations between his men and soldiers of the Republican Guard, who were providing security there. The Canadian Embassy reported its charge d'affaires was physically threatened by an armed Bemba guard and needed a UN escort to leave the site. MEECE