The military auditor of the armed forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo handed over the new investigation into the murder eleven years ago by the human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Floribert Chebeya and Fidèle Bazana Edadi, both suffocating in the generals. police inspection in Kinshasa. Since the beginning of the year, RFI has collected new testimonies that give an accurate picture of the events on the same day as the double murder.
From our Kinshasa correspondent,
“We are very sorry … For having carried out this badly given order, we now have consequences in our lives, we have become walkers”. Alain Longwa Kayeye is one of the members of the group that on June 1, 2010 executed the president of the NGO La Voix des Sans Voix, Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and his companion Fidèle Bazana Edadi. Now on the run from the Democratic Republic of Congo, he blames those who gave him instructions. “It was a crime,” he pleads, “it is not on our own initiative that we carried out this mission.”
Eric Kibumbe Banza – alias Saddam – was also one of the members of the group. He admits that he was responsible for the execution of Fidèle Bazana by suffocation. He also deplores this “ill-fated” order and its consequences for its executors: “These are families, Congolese like me, who are now in big trouble,” he said. Before explanation: the order was transferred by General John Numbi, Daniel Mukalay and Christian Ngoy.
There are actually eight who have carried out this execution: Major Christian Kenga Kenga Ngoy, Lieutenant Bruno Soti, Jacques Mugabo, Hergil Ilunga wa Ilunga, Saddam Kibumbe Banza, Alain Longwa Kayeye, Ngoy Mulanga Jeanci and Ilunga Doudou. All were members of the Simba Battalion created within the Congolese National Police the day after the appointment of John Numbi Banza Tambo as head of this body. To form this battalion, John Numbi had recruited by force in the Republican Guard and in an obscure structure in place during his time as commander of the Air Force. This included Christian Kenga Kenga and Jacques Mugabo, two former CNDP members of Laurent Nkunda.
It is in the eastern part of Kinshasa, in Mbakana, on the Bateke plateau, that the Simba battalion training center was installed with Congolese monitors trained in anti-terrorism in Angola, Eric Kibumbe reveals.
The night of the crime
On June 1, 2010, Eric Kibumbe Banza alias Saddam and Hergil Ilunga wa Ilunga, separately at 10 a.m., receive two phone calls from two different officials: Major Christian Kenga Kenga alias Ngoyi, who commands the Simba battalion, and Colonel Daniel Mukalay, under whose supervision they work. The two police officers were ordered to join the National Inspectorate of the National Police, where their offices are located. They do.
There, Hergil and Saddam find Christian Kenga Kenga on the farm. The major immediately leads them to Colonel Daniel Mukalay’s office, asking them to wait outside for instructions on the mission that will be entrusted to them. Meanwhile, the two policemen notice that Kenga Kenga is not alone, he has his bodyguard Ilunga Doudou in his suite, Jacques Mugabo and his driver Alain Longwa Kayeye. Lieutenant Bruno is added to them. At 2 pm, the group receives a meal allowance. Hergil Ilunga and Saddam Kibumbe wonder what kind of mission will be entrusted to them: Mission in Goma? The waiting time will not be long.
After a short while, Hergil Ilunga got Colonel Daniel Mukalay’s management vehicle. Another vehicle, the dog brigade, is handed over to Lieutenant Bruno. During this time, the General Inspectorate’s facilities empty quickly, as if an evacuation order had just been issued.
Floribert Chebeya, on the other hand, states: he has an appointment with the inspector in his office. Daniel Mukalay acted as intermediary. The latter sent Lieutenant Michel Mwila to leave the post on this subject in the office of the Voix des Sans Voix (VSV). That evening, like many other days, Floribert is led by one of his relatives, Fidèle Bazana Edadi, also a human rights activist, but also a cousin of his wife Annie.
► Reading and listening: The Chebeya affair: “It was during the police general inspection that they were suffocated”
At around 5 pm, VSD’s car from VSV went into the police’s general inspection. Floribert Chebeya resigns to replace him. It is Christian Kenga Kenga who accompanies him to Major Paul Mwilambwe’s office, head of protocol and security for the General Inspectorate’s installations. Mwilambwe installs it. He would later say that Christian Kenga Kenga introduced him to Chebeya as a visitor who had a meeting with the general.
Then Floribert Chebeya is invited to go to the general office. The executors then take action. Mwilambwe explains that from his surveillance screen he sees Kenga Kenga and other policemen neutralize the visitor and suffocate him with a bag placed with self-adhesive strips. “I went to ask Major Christian, who told me that the order came from the hierarchy,” the head of the protocol, Mwilambwe, said today.
Christian Kenga Kenga, commander of the Simba battalion, asks Jacques Mugabo and Doudou to join Eric Kibumbe and help him inflict on Fidèle Bazana the same fate that had already been asked to leave the VSV car. What they do.
A convoy of vehicles then forms and heads west of Kinshasa, on the road leading to the province of Central Congo. He goes to the Mitendi district where, according to the members of the group, Fidèle Bazana’s body is buried in a hole dug in advance. It is owned by General Djadjidja, according to police in exile.
► Reading and listening: The Chebeya affair in the Democratic Republic of Congo: “The tomb was already prepared by the husband of Colonel Djadjidja”
Mazda abandoned on the outskirts
Floribert Chebia’s body was found early in the morning of June 2 in the car of La Voix des Sans Voix, abandoned on highway number 1 at the entrance to Kinshasa. In the Mitendi district, residents noticed in the evening a convoy of vehicles coming and going with the police on board. They observed how the gray Mazda was carefully parked on the side of the road. But at night no one wants to approach it.
At dawn, a crowd gathered to examine the interior of the vehicle. A man, his belt repented and his trousers pulled down to his buttocks, is lying in the back seat, surrounded by condoms and viagra.
The mayor of the municipality of Mont Ngafula joins the group. The body is identified as that of human rights defender Floribert Chebeya. The body is taken to the morgue at Mama Yemo Hospital without waiting for the scientific police or the judiciary. It was a rumor, the whole city quickly learned about it. The police chief announces a press conference in the morning, but the statement will not be made until late at 21:00. General Oleko, in charge of the city police, talks about the discovery of the body and launches a wanted message about “Chebeyia’s driver”. Without convincing, he develops condoms and Viagra that are in the vehicle.
Command exfiltration
Due to the public upheaval that followed the operation, the members of the group gathered on the night of 1 to 2 June 2010 in the residence of General John Numbi in the municipality of Gombe. The police inspector turns to them himself. He tells them about a new mission to be carried out in Lubumbashi. “He said: I will take you on a mission to be carried out in Lubumbashi, when in reality it was to make us flee,” confirms Eric Kibumbe Banza, alias Saddam.
It was that evening, at two o’clock in the morning, that the first part of the group of four people was taken to Ndjili airport to board a plane bound for Lubumbashi. Arriving in the capital of Haut-Katanga, Christian Kenga Kenga, Jacques Mugabo, Hergil Ilunga wa Ilunga and Saddam Kibumbe Banza are taken directly to the Beijing Palace, owned by John Numbi. They are interned there without contact with the outside world. “The other group, who remained stuck in John Numbi’s residence in Kinshasa, joined us in Lubumbashi, also led to the farm in Beijing,” reveals Hergil Ilunga wa Ilunga from his hiding place.
In the ensuing days, six members of the command were assigned to the work of the Lualaba Mining Police under Chief Colonel Félicien Ilunga, who was now close to the Inspector General. Christian Kenga Kenga has the opportunity to stay in Lubumbashi to enroll in the Higher Institute of Statistical Studies before attending the School of Criminology.
NGOs for human rights
In January 2019, the power changes hands. Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi succeeds Joseph Kabila Kabange. Meanwhile, General John Numbi returns to service after a long journey through the desert. He was appointed four-star general in the army as Inspector General of the Armed Forces. A new installation intervenes, it is thrown away. He immediately moved to Lubumbashi. With his staff, General Numbi is arranging a media campaign to get an assignment. Networks are involved. We see him receiving a delegation with personalities from Greater Katanga on his farm. Numbi explains: “President Félix Tshisekedi knows that I am one of those who weighed heavily for the president to hand over power to him”.
For their part, NGOs for human rights demand the new power organize a new trial of the murder of Chebeya. For these organizations, the two previous trials (first degree and appeal) before military justice were biased.
The police officers involved today in exile (Hergil Ilunga wa Ilunga, Eric Kibumbe Banza alias Saddam and Alain Longwa Kayeye) all regret their participation, but they say they are ready to take part in the trial. “These executions were not our initiative, the international community must know that it is a state crime,” assured Hergil Ilunga wa Ilunga. “We can testify but we have to agree on the terms.” For his part, Paul Mwilambwe says he is prepared for hearings via video conference. But so far, negotiations have stumbled with the military auditor.
According to a military legal source, number 1 in the military indictment, General Likulia handed over the investigation accusing General John Numbi of being responsible for this murder. The former police chief left at the moment not found. Since this Friday, June 4, another protagonist in the story, General Zolwa alias Djadjidja, owner of the concession used for the funeral of Fidèle Bazana, has been arrested and transferred to the Makala military prison. He had been recalled to Kinshasa a few months ago and placed under house arrest by staff after the first revelations by RFI, insured at the time by a senior security official.
► Read also: The murder of Floribert Chebeya and Fidèle Bazana in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the resumption of the trial in sight
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