This Thursday, Martin Fayulu's supporters came in large numbers to welcome him to Goma, in the east of the DRC. The opponent, candidate for the December 20 presidential election, hopes that the 2018 scenario will not be repeated. For 5 years, he has claimed that he is the real president-elect and that his votes were stolen from him.
“We are counting on President Martin Fayulu, because he is the president (who can embody) national cohesion, political constancy, because you know that for five years, we have robbed him of the victory that the people had given him ", explains Sammy Binwa, member of ECIDE, Martin Fayulu's party.
“This time, we are not going to steal his votes again, I know we did it in 2018, if he dares again, we will revolt against the CENI. Those who stole his votes have not nothing done for the Congolese people, the killings continue,” explains Aline Safari, a resident of Goma.
In 2018, with 34.8% of the votes, Martin Fayulu came second behind President Félix Tshisekedi who officially received 38% of the votes.
Guinea-Bissau: the army regains control after a restless night
Calm returns to the deserted streets of Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, after a night of clashes between members of the national guard and special forces.
The Guinea-Bissau army said Friday it was controlling the situation in the capital after gaining the upper hand at the cost of a night of fighting against elements of the security forces carrying out an operation symbolizing the political fractures and persistent crises in this country. .
Firing, intermittently heavy, rang out part of the night and Friday morning in Bissau between elements of the National Guard on the one hand, holed up in a barracks in the south of the city, and the special forces of the Presidential Guard of the other, reported an AFP correspondent.
Calm returned mid-morning with the capture or surrender of the commander of the National Guard, Colonel Victor Tchongo , announced by the army, noted an AFP correspondent.
Residents have resumed their habits in the outlying neighborhoods, but activity has remained very slow in the center, traversed by military patrols in pick-ups. Protection has been reinforced around official buildings, and around the presidency, the general staff and the judicial police.
The army transmitted to the media a photo presented as that of Colonel Tchongo in the hands of the army on a pick-up, his clothing apparently bloody. She also circulated a video purporting to show eight National Guard captives in uniform lying face down in a courtyard of the barracks where they had holed up. There we see a number of automatic weapons taken by the army.
“Colonel (Victor) Tchongo is in our hands. The situation is completely under control ,” said Captain Jorgito Biague, a spokesperson for the military staff of this small Portuguese-speaking country in West Africa. , poor and politically unstable.
A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation, said Colonel Tchongo had surrendered.
Elements of the National Guard broke into the premises of the judicial police on Thursday evening to extract the Minister of Economy and Finance, Souleiman Seidi, and the Secretary of State for the Public Treasury, Antonio Monteiro who were being questioned there. , according to military and intelligence officials. Then they took shelter in a camp in the Santa Luzia district, resisting the army with weapons.
The two members of the government whom the National Guard elements are suspected of having evaded the police were recovered safe and sound, added the military official.
“fractionalized state”
“My children and I have not slept a wink because of the shooting. The children are afraid and cling to me every time the weapons crackle ,” said a teacher reached by telephone and not identifying herself for her safety. while the gusts continued to ring out.
Residents temporarily fled the south of the city for the north.
Guinea-Bissau suffers from chronic political instability and has experienced a string of coups since its independence from Portugal in 1974, the last in February 2022.
The events of the night seem to refer to the reality of a "fraternalized State" and to the old rivalries between the presidency of Umaro Sissoco Embalo and the historic African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), Vincent Foucher, researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, France), told AFP.
The two members of the government were questioned by the judicial police on the instructions of the attorney general, appointed by the president. The National Guard essentially responds to the Ministry of the Interior, dominated by the PAIGC like the main ministries after the victory of the coalition it led in the legislative elections in June 2023.
“If the National Guard goes there (to the Judicial Police), it is because it is under the authority of the Interior; if the Presidential Guard intervenes, it is because it is under that of the president” , explained the researcher. “Things work like this in Guinea-Bissau, with a sort of coalition between certain segments of the security forces and political actors.”
The two members of the government were summoned by the courts on Thursday morning, then placed in police custody. They were questioned for several hours about the withdrawal of ten million dollars from state coffers.
Mr. Seidi, questioned on Monday about this withdrawal by deputies during a session at the National Assembly, affirmed that it was legal and intended to support the national private sector.
This new heatwave occurred while President Embalo, elected in December 2019 for five years, is in Dubai to attend the 28th United Nations climate conference (COP28).