EU humiliation: Key ambassador booted out of Congo – live on TV

EU ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo Bart Ouvry was unceremoniously booted out of the country live on television - just days before today’s elections, prompting the bloc to issue vociferous protests.

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And as the country went to the polls, tension mounted with two people, including a policeman, killed as violence erupted over claims of voter fraud, while elsewhere police fired tear gas at demonstrators. The humiliating episode involving Mr Ouvry brings relations between the EU and the DRC – currently struggling in the face of a sustained outbreak of deadly Ebola – to an “all-time low”, reported Politico. Belgian national Mr Ouvry was “ambushed” while attending a meeting in the capital of Kinshasa on Thursday evening, an event organised by Léonard She Okitundu, the country’s foreign minister.

Politico reported: “According to people in the room, the government made sure Ouvry was sat in the front row before telling him on live, state-controlled television that he had to pack his bags and get out of the country within 48 hours.

“The move sends diplomatic relations between Congo and the EU to an all-time low.”

The website suggested the decision was a “direct response” the EU sanctions against top-ranking Congolese officials, including Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, the man tipped to replace President Joseph Kabila, as well as another man who it described as a “cannibal warlord”.

A Kinshasa-based EU diplomat said: “We are not in the domain of diplomacy here, it’s all about a show of force, and the Congolese government sent a clear warning to the diplomatic community.”

In a statement issued on Friday night, Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief, said: “Nothing can justify this arbitrary act.

“The EU would like to recall that these measures are linked to violations of human rights and obstacles created to peacefully exit the DRC from its crisis.”

Congo, which is roughly the size of Western Europe, is no backwater for the EU: it’s the world’s top producer of cobalt, a key component in batteries for electric cars and mobile phones.

Between 2014 and 2020 the EU gave £638million (€709 million) to the DRC, the world’s top producer of cobalt, cash which was largely spent on infrastructure improvements.

The bloc has also given £11.55 million (€12.83 million) to help in the battle against Ebola, with DRC facing the worst epidemic in its history.

Brussels also financed a mission of independent election observers in advance of today’s elections, after its own election monitors were refused accreditation.

After being told to leave, Mr Ouvry took to Facebook to bid farewell to his golf caddy, saying: “Many thanks to my loyal and patient caddy, who has always accompanied me in good humor on the Kinshasa golf course.”

A police officer and civilian were killed in eastern Congo in a dispute over alleged voting fraud in Sunday's presidential and legislative elections, a witness and a politician from the area told Reuters.

Vital Kamerhe, a politician from South Kivu province, and another witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said an altercation broke out at a polling place in the town of Walungu after voters accused an election official of fraud.

A police officer shot and killed a young man involved in the melee and the crowd then beat him to death, they said.

One Thursday, security forces in the east of the country live rounds and tear gas on Thursday to scatter demonstrators who burned tyres and ransacked an Ebola centre in protest at their exclusion from the presidential election.

The electoral commission (CENI) had previously announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling voting in Sunday's election in the opposition strongholds of Beni, Butembo and their surrounding areas due to an ongoing Ebola outbreak and militia violence.