Congo: Opposition mourns veteran leader Tshisekedi

By Godfrey Olukya

ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo (AA) - The opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo are mourning the death of Etienne Tshisekedi, a veteran politician who died last night at age 84.

Tshisekedi died from a pulmonary embolism in a Brussels hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment since Jan. 24.

Before that he had been under house arrest in the capital Kinshasa apparently at the order of President Joseph Kabila, in the aftermath of the contested 2011 election, which Tshisekedi said he won.

Tshisekedi, head of the main opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party, has been the country’s key opposition leader since the 1970s, during the reign of Mobutu Sese Seko.

He also briefly served as prime minister three times in the 1990s, when the country was still known as Zaire.

''We are shocked that our leader has died. When he left for Brussels he told us he was going for a medical checkup. He played a big role in our politics. He deserves a state funeral,'' said Paul Mulunga, a mobilizer for the party.

He said that the party leadership will soon announce funeral arrangements.

Simon Longa, the party’s vice chairman in Central Congo, said that Tshisekedi died at a time when there was hope he would be the next president.

''The opposition and government have been holding talks on how President Kabila should leave office and elections would be held at the end of this year. There are all indications that Tshisekedi would have won the elections. ''

-Long career in politics and the opposition

Born in Kananga in then-Belgian Congo in 1932, Tshisekedi began his political career in Patrice Lumumba's MNC party, which he joined in 1958.

When Mobutu took power in 1965, Tshisekedi served in three different Cabinet posts through 1969, including the interior and justice.

He fell out with Mobutu in the early 1970s and started opposing him.

When Joseph Kabila succeeded his father Laurent in 2001, for some time Tshisekedi worked with him amicably. In 2006 he did not seek the presidency.

In the 2011 presidential election, which international observers say was marred by irregularities and a lack of transparency, Tshisekedi officially finished second, behind Kabila. He contested the results and declared himself the “elected president” and even took an oath of office at his residence.

Since then, to the time of his death, he has bitterly opposed Kabila. He has been leading the opposition in fighting Kabila holding onto power even after his term of office was supposed to end late last December.