Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Democratic Republic of Congo
Newsline: Pepper spray at Congo embassy
Police in Toronto and Ottawa had their hands full as they dealt with demonstrators protesting last week’s disputed presidential election in Congo. The protesters say the elections in the African country were fixed and they want leaders like Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama to take action. RCMP in Ottawa said three people were arrested and two taken into custody after protesters gathered outside the Congolese Embassy. Police used pepper spray to disperse those who tried to breach the police line in front of the embassy and RCMP used a conducted energy weapon during one arrest. Police said one of those taken into custody was charged with obstructing a police officer and one RCMP officer suffered minor injuries. Officials also said there was some minor damage to the embassy and police vehicles. Congo’s back-to-back civil wars in the 1990s consumed the region, and destroyed the nation whose population is now nudging 70 million. The country is ranked dead last on the United Nations’ global survey of human development.
http://www.castanet.net/news/Canada/68202/Pepper-spray-at-Congo-embassy
Newsline: US diplomat accuses Uruguay major of assault
An Uruguayan official says a U.S. embassy official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has accused an Uruguayan army major stationed in the country with assault. The South American country has sent more than a thousand troops to Congo as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission. Uruguayan Col. Mario Stevenazzi says the United Nations and the Uruguayan government are investigating the alleged assault, which he says doesn’t appear to be sexual in nature. Stevenazzi didn’t identify either the Uruguayan army major or the female U.S. embassy official involved in the alleged assault, which occurred at least two weeks ago. Uruguayan soldiers serving in another U.N. force in Haiti are also being investigated for an alleged assault involving a young Haitian man.
Newsline: Trial of African diplomat’s wife opens in Romania
The wife of a Congolese diplomat says her husband instructed her to smuggle cigarettes from Serbiain to Romania. Esther Pascaline, who is charged with cigarette smuggling, told the court that her husband, second counselor for the Congolese embassy in Serbia Marc Marius Itela Elombola, instructed her to accompany a Serbian man and deliver the cigarettes in Romania for which she was due to receive (EURO)1,600 (US$2,260). In June, Romanian authorities found 1,800 cartons of smuggled cigarettes inside her car. Organized crime prosecutors charged Elombola in absentia and arrested his wife. Pascaline’s driver and two other Serb citizens were arrested and they risk prison sentences of up to seven years.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1698463
Newsline: Trial of African diplomat’s wife to go on in Romania
Romanian prosecutors say a Congolese diplomat’s wife charged with cigarette smuggling will face trial in September. In June, Romanian authorities found 1,800 cartons of smuggled cigarettes in the car of the wife of an official at the Congolese embassy inSerbia, who claimed diplomatic immunity. Romanian authorities dismissed the argument. Organized crime prosecutors charged the embassy’s second counselor Marc Marius Itela Elombola in absentia after his wife Esther Pascaline was caught with cigarettes from Montenegro in her car. She is under arrest in the western city ofTimisoarapending trial, together with her driver and two other Serb citizens. They risk prison sentences of up to seven years.
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1674407
Newsline: Canadian feds fighting refugee claim by ex-diplomat
Ottawain its crackdown against suspected war criminals is fighting to stop a refugee claim by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s former top UN diplomat who drove up to the Canadian border with his wife and eight children. Rachidi Ekanza Ezokola, 46, is suspected of taking part in crimes against humanity during his days as a senior diplomat and should be sent packing fromCanada, government lawyers allege. Police said he is not on a list of most-wanted, suspected war criminals released by Canada Border Services Agency. Ezokola is one of more than 10 former diplomats from African countries to claim refugee status inCanadain recent years. CBSA officers are monitoring cases of defecting diplomats in a bid to deport them due to possible links to crimes against humanity. Ezokola was the former second counsellor and chargé d’affaires of the DRC’s permanent mission to the UN inNew York Cityfrom 2004 to 2008. Before that posting, he held senior government positions in the ministries of labour, finance and human rights, court documents show. He also sat on various commissions and addressed the security council in 2007 while at the UN. Ezokola claimed he fell out favour with his political masters and was forced to flee in 2008 by driving fromNew York Cityto a Canadian border crossing where he, his wife and eight children filed failed refugee claims, court documents show. His claim was rejected due to “complicity by association in the crimes committed by the security forces of various governments of the DRC.” During Ezokola’s tenure at the UN, massacres, murders, mutilations, rapes and abductions occurred on a frequent basis in the DRC. Ezokola appealed his failed refugee bid to the Federal Court of Canada last year and was given a new refugee hearing before an immigration board. But, this month,Ottawaappealed to the Federal Court of Appeal to prevent a hearing from taking place. No decision has been rendered.
http://m.torontosun.com/2011/07/22/feds-fighting-refugee-claim-by-ex-diplomat?noimage
Newsline: Wife of Congo diplomat arrested in Romania
Police have arrested the wife of an African diplomat and charged her with involvement in a Serbian smuggling ring after she was caught with 1,800 cartons of cigarettes in her car.Timisoaracounty court in western Romania ordered that Esther Pascaline be held for 29 days pending trial, following Monday’s discovery. Her Serbian driver, Miljan Vujosevic, and two other Serbs citizens were also arrested and charged. The four can appeal. Pascaline’s husband, the second counselor at the Congolese embassy inBelgrade, is also suspected of involvement in the ring which smuggled tax-free cigarettes from Montenegro to Romania. No charges have been brought against him. The four risk prison sentences of up to 10 years for smuggling.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015313576_apeuromaniacigarettesmuggling.html
Newsline: EU backs DRC commissioner
The EU was set to step up pressure on the Democratic Republic of Congo after Kinshasa declared the bloc’s top aid official persona non grata for raising doubts about its use of aid money. At the European Parliament last month, Development Commissioner Karel De Gucht had questioned whether aid provided to Kinshasa by EU nations was being put to good use as a humanitarian crisis raged in parts of the country. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was set to call in DR Congo’s ambassador to express the bloc’s support for De Gucht. On Thursday, DR Congo government spokesperson Lambert Mende said: “We note that here is a character who is incapable of having normal, dignified relations with our country. “Without wanting to damage our good relations with the EU, we want nothing to do with this character,” Mende added. The EU is a major aid donor to DR Congo, sending some 300m euros ($430m) since 2003, including around 50m euros annually in humanitarian assistance in 2008 and last year.
Newsline: Shot diplomat back in SA
South African diplomat Maryse Ash, who was shot and wounded by soldiers in Democratic Republic of Congo, was flown to South Africa for treatment. The embassy’s second secretary will receive plastic surgery to her face. A South African diplomatic source said the surgery was to repair damage caused by shrapnel and glass when guards fired at her official car near the presidential palace in the capital. Dominique Kilufya Mwamfa, head of state protocol in the DRC’s ministry of foreign affairs, said the intelligence service was investigating the incident.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=vn20091208041846589C340917
