Martin Madidi Fayulu

A rally for opposition candidate Martin Fayulu scheduled for that afternoon was cancelled as armed police blocked his return to Kinshasa and fired tear gas at hundreds of his supporters...

All seemed well on 12 November when seven leaders gathered in Geneva including heavyweights Jean-Pierre Bemba and Moise Katumbi who have been barred from pursuing their own presidential aspirations and announced they had united behind Martin Fayulu a courageous political fighter who was nearly killed by the police two years ago (AC Vol 59 No 23 Militias flex their muscles)...

They opted for Martin Fayulu an articulate national parliamentarian who can mobilise the Kinshasa street but the next day Félix Tshisekedi son of the late and perennial opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi pulled out quickly followed by former information minister Vital Kamerhe...

With honourable exceptions such as Martin Fayulu and Jean-Marc Kabund its leaders prefer pontificating in Washington DC New York and the capitals of Europe than doing the hard work of mobilising the immiserated Congolese people...

Martin Fayulu an influential figure in the Rassemblement told supporters that 'if the international community wants to be naive the Congolese people aren't naive'...

A prominent Rassemblement politician Martin Fayulu of Engagement pour la citoyenneté et le développement (Ecidé) was hospitalised after being shot in the head with a tear-gas canister...

However the UNC Secretary General and another senior party official attended in a personal capacity against Kamerhe's wishes as did all the smaller parties within the Dynamique the most significant of which is Martin Fayulu's Engagement pour la citoyenneté et le développement (ECiDé)...

They included the former Governor of Equateur José Makila Sumanda who chairs the Alliance des travaillistes congolais pour le développement (ATD) but was formerly with the Mouvement de libération du Congo led by Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo; Martin Fayulu from Engagement citoyen pour le développement (Ecide); and Jean-Bertrand Ewanga Isewanga Iwoka Secretary General of Vital Kamerhe's Union pour la nation congolaise (UNC)...