In Lubumbashi, the Unafec party denounces murders last Thursday among its supporters and accuses the military. The formation which supports President Felix Tshisekedi filed a complaint against X with the military prosecutor on Wednesday. But sources close to the army indicate that the soldiers were allegedly attacked by members of Unafec as they went to the rescue of a man robbed by these militants. The official report reports 12 deaths, but Unafec speaks of 21 dead and missing.
With our correspondent in Lubumbashi, Denise Mahého
This father is in mourning. His son Kabala was killed. He accuses the army: Last Thursday when I got home I was told my son drowned. He had just taken part in a meeting of Unafec [Union nationale des fédéralistes du Congo – ndlr]he was killed by soldiers. On Saturday morning, his body was retrieved from the Naviundu River. »
According to a source close to the army, the incident occurred when soldiers demanded young people to Unafec to return the telephone that they would have stolen from a passer-by. The militants would then have responded with a rain of projectiles. In response, the FARDC allegedly fired in self-defence. Panicked, some young people would have thrown themselves into the river.
But on the side of Unafec, its president Umba Longange affirms the opposite: ” It was these gentlemen, guided by a civilian, a legal defender, who found our young people at the place where they usually meet, and they started shooting. And we find ourselves for the moment with 21 bodies and missing persons. »
For its part, civil society in Haut Katanga declared that it had provisionally identified 11 bodies. On the other hand, the official report shows 12 deaths, including 3 by gunshot and 9 by drowning.