Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who has rejected Joseph Kabila's re-election as the Democratic Republic of Congo's president, held his own "swearing in" ceremony at his home Friday. Tshisekedi, 79, who came in second in the November 28 election, defied a police ban on his "inauguration", which had been planned for a football stadium in the capital.
Several dozen supporters and officials of his Union for Democracy and Social Progress gathered at his home in the Limete district, where police earlier used tear gas to disperse backers who had gathered nearby. They also used tear gas at the Martyrs Stadium, where armoured vehicles of the Republican Guard and large forces of police were mobilised to prevent the planned ceremony.
"It's banned. There is already an elected president who has been sworn in. We cannot have another swearing-in. It's an act of subversion," a source close to the head of the country's police said. "Such a rally would be destabilising for the regime in place," the source added. Tshisekedi took the oath on a Bible after his chief of staff Albert Moleka read a statement claiming that "today puts an indelible mark on the history of our country which has passed from dictatorship via the oligarchy of Kabila and his followers to real democracy."
Government spokesman Lambert Mende promptly dismissed the ceremony as a farce and a non-event, as well as "an insult to oath taking." "The head of state only takes the oath before a supreme court," he said. "Did you see a supreme court judge?" Kabila, who has been in power since January 2001, took nearly 49 percent of the vote in last month's election, with Tshisekedi coming in second with 32 percent. Kabila was officially sworn-in at a ceremony in Kinshasa on Tuesday. Tshisekedi contends he won the poll but was denied victory by massive fraud.