Contacts:
Dr. Alafuele M. Kalala
Mr. Rohan Carney
Phone: (202) 463-9373
Fax: (202) 463-9374
Email: cdzcrm@freewwweb.com

The Kabila regime continues to harass, detain and arbitrarily arrest innocent Congolese with impunity.  On the verge of the 21st Century draconian and barbaric practices like those of a government recklessly out of control is not only intolerable but criminal.  On Monday, April 28, 1998 the Kabila regime arrested long-time, pro-democratic stalwarts PAUL NSAPU, president of Ligue des Electeurs and SABIN BANZA, vice-president of Ligue des Electeurs as they left a meeting at the Belgian Embassy in Kinshasa.  Not a week passes without a journalist, professor, church figure, human rights activist or innocent civilian arrested by the rogue government in Kinshasa.

The Kabila regime has clearly demonstrated its lack of respect for human life, international law and the goodwill of its own citizens.  The people of the Congo will not allow another dictatorship to be installed in the Congo and in the same vein the international community should not blindly support/engage another Mobutu as the US State Department report on human rights in the Congo indicates.

The RNS vehemently condemns the arrest of PAUL NSAPU and SABIN BANZA and we call for their immediate and unconditional release.  Moreover, we call upon the Kabila regime to lift the ban on political parties, include the Congolese people in the transition process, take concrete steps toward democratization and immediately release all other political prisoners, particularly long-time, non-violent, pro-democracy stalwarts ETIENNE TSHISEKEDI, president of UDPS and ARTHUR Z'AHIDI NGOMA, head of the Forces of the

Future party.  In addition, we demand that the Kabila regime produce a live and well JOSEPH OLENGHANKOY, president of FONUS, who many fear may have been assassinated by the government in the same fashion that Patrice Lumumba was in the 1960s.