Nearly 5,000 soldiers from the Republican Guard marched on February 12 through the streets of Kinshasa. Simple “routine exercise”, as the presidency says, or show of force?
© Kash
© Kash
Red beret on the head, khaki uniform on the shoulders, the soldiers of the republican guard delivered, on February 12, to an impressive parade in the streets of Kinshasa. Starting from the Limete interchange, in the heart of the capital, before dispersing on different axes of the city, some 5,000 elements of this unit dedicated to the protection of the Head of State and his entourage strolled, equipped with their combat equipment, on the main arteries of Kinshasa.
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An atypical exercise to say the least, this “endurance march” was, according to the presidency, just a simple “routine military pedestrian exercise” with the aim of “strengthening the physical condition” of the soldiers. Consequently, continues the presidential communication, “it should not give rise to speculation or disrupt the working day of the population”.
Rumors of “destabilize”
Difficult, however, not to wonder regarding the timing of such a show of force. Since the arrest of Félix Tshisekedi’s powerful security adviser, François Beyarumors are rife regarding the reasons for the sidelining of the one who was until then one of the most influential securocrats in the country.
The spokesman for the presidency affirmed on national television that “serious indications attesting to actions once morest national security” existed. But no details concerning this potential threat have yet been provided, thus encouraging speculation around a possible settling of accounts within the presidency where some question the loyalty of the “Special”, a long close collaborator of Joseph Kabila.
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While Kinshasa is buzzing with rumors of “attempted destabilization”, and that Félix Tshisekedi was this weekend in Oyo, in the Republic of Congo, for a security summit, did the Republican Guard want to send a message? The parade of this unit, which had already found itself at the heart of the disgrace of Jean-Marc Kabund-a-Kabund, is in any case far from having gone unnoticed.
