{"id":14688,"date":"2012-09-17T04:32:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T02:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/09\/update-1-fugitive-congo-opposition-figure-heads-to-france-lawyer\/"},"modified":"2012-09-17T04:32:41","modified_gmt":"2012-09-17T02:32:41","slug":"update-1-fugitive-congo-opposition-figure-heads-to-france-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-fugitive-congo-opposition-figure-heads-to-france-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-Fugitive Congo opposition figure heads to France-lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Opposition figure has been in hiding after treason charge<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Source at South African embassy confirms departure<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Congo says Lumbala must be returned to face the law<\/p>\n<p> (Adds Congo government reaction)<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>By Patrick Nduwimana<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>BUJUMBURA, Sept 16 (Reuters) &#8211; An opposition figure wanted<br \/>\nin the Democratic Republic of Congo on treason charges has left<br \/>\nneighbouring Burundi, where he had taken refuge, and has gone to<br \/>\nFrance, his lawyer said on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Roger Lumbala, a Congolese member of parliament and former<br \/>\nrebel, arrived at the South African Embassy in Burundi&#8217;s capital<br \/>\nBujumbura earlier this month, seeking asylum.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The government accuses him of helping Rwanda support a<br \/>\nrebellion in eastern Congo that has deepened political fissures<br \/>\nin the capital Kinshasa, where the government and opposition<br \/>\naccuse each other of fanning the flames of the distant war.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The worsening political chaos threatens to undermine<br \/>\nPresident Joseph Kabila&#8217;s ability to push through political and<br \/>\neconomic reforms in the country &#8211; a potential mining and oil<br \/>\ngiant &#8211; after his re-election in flawed polls last year.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lumbala left the South African Embassy on Saturday with a<br \/>\nKenya Airways flight and took the direction of France,&#8221; lawyer<br \/>\nProsper Niyoyankana told Reuters.<br \/>\n\u00a0 <span class=\"label\"><strong>Continued&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* Opposition figure has been in hiding after treason charge * Source at South African embassy confirms departure * Congo says Lumbala must be returned to face the law (Adds Congo government reaction) By Patrick Nduwimana BUJUMBURA, Sept 16 (Reuters) &#8211; An opposition figure wanted in the Democratic Republic of Congo on treason charges has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-14688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}