Prince Epenge Barred from Leaving the Country as DGM Confiscates His Passport at N'djili

Prince Epenge, president of ADD Congo and a member of Lamuka and the Article 64 coalition, was unable to board a flight to Rome on October 25 with Martin Fayulu, ahead of an opposition meeting scheduled to begin Monday. At N'djili airport, Directorate General of Migration agents held their passports, then returned Fayulu’s, while preventing Epenge from travelling on the grounds that he had to answer a court summons he says he never received. The procedure is reportedly linked to the death of Manassé Lomboto, a young ADD Congo activist who died after being violently beaten during the coalition’s September 15 march in Kinshasa. The investigation is ongoing; the opposition alleges a trap, authorities reject the accusations, and the city’s official death toll lists no fatalities.