Repression In The DRC: Nine Officials Officially Sanctioned By The EU

Flag of the European Union floating in front of the European Commission headquarters. 

The names had already begun to circulate this weekend, but this Monday, May 29, the information is now official. The European Union is taking sanctions against nine top officials of the Joseph Kabila regime in the DRC. Signs that the EU seems to have taken the measure of the violence that shakes the Kasai, most of the names are directly related to this crisis.

First, there is the very feared head of the Congolese National Intelligence Agency, Kalev Mutond. Until now, he had escaped the sanctions, particularly those taken last December. It is pinned for its central role in the repression that strikes the DRC in the Kasai, but also in Kinshasa.

Another name on the list: Evariste Boshab. The former deputy prime minister and minister of the interior and public security until December 2016 is considered the architect of the repression that hit the Kasai, in the center of the country since last August.

This is a situation inherent in its functions: the management of security on the territory, but also that of the governors. Same for the current Minister of Interior and Public Security Ramazani Shadari, responsible for the disproportionate use of force in the Kasai, according to the EU.

In the sights of the Union also, the militia leader Gédéon Kyungu, whose men are rampant in this area while he is supposed to be under house arrest in Lubumbashi.

But also the governor of Central Kasai, Alex Kandé Mupompa, presented as the relay of the power of Kinshasa on the spot. Or Brigadier-General Eric Ruhorimbere, head of military operations in the region, accused of having committed crimes for 20 years in the country.

The list also includes Jean-Claude Kazembe Musonda, the former governor of Haut-Katenga and Muhindo Akili Mundos, commander of the 31st Congolese army brigade.

The European Union has also not forgotten those which, for it, hinder the democratic process, starting with the media face of the Congolese power, Lambert Mende. The regional organization sees it as the mouthpiece of the government's repressive policy towards the media.

"  A policy that violates the right to freedom of expression and information and compromises a consensual and peaceful solution for the holding of elections," the EU said in a statement

All these personalities are now subject to a ban on entering the European Union, a freezing of their assets and a ban on raising money from someone in Europe.