The Hostages of the Tshisekedi Regime

Having come to power in 2018 following decades of relentless struggle led by the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) a historic party that had vigorously labeled the previous administrations of Mobutu Sese Seko, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, and Joseph Kabila as dictatorships after enduring more than 38 years in opposition President Félix Tshisekedi solemnly promised to break with the dark eras of arbitrariness. At the forefront of his commitments stood the safeguarding of human rights, the establishment of a genuine state governed by the rule of law, and the definitive closure of secret detention facilities.

Yet, years later, the contrast between these promises of liberation and the political reality is stark. The current regime has significantly tightened its grip, intensifying a wave of targeted repression. Beyond prominent political figures, the country's prisons are tragically filling with ordinary citizens: detention centers and clandestine facilities overflow with nationals from across the Swahili-speaking geographic space notably Katanga, Maniema, North Kivu, South Kivu, and the former Oriental Province as well as Congolese of Rwandan descent. All are lumped together and targeted on the basis of fallacious suspicions, arbitrarily accused of complicity with the Alliance River Congo (AFC) and M23 rebel coalition.

Under the pretext of rooting out these complicities a political narrative culminating in an expedited trial conducted before the High Military Court in Kinshasa against former President Joseph Kabila (sentenced to death in absentia despite accusations that could not be formally substantiated with irrefutable evidence) Kinshasa has multiplied extrajudicial arrests. Carried out by intelligence services and the Republican Guard, these raids indiscriminately target close associates of the former head of state, dissenting voices, and civil society actors.

Operating outside the bounds of republican legality, these detainees are sequestered in clandestine dungeons where they endure abhorrent acts of torture, deprived of all visitation rights and access to legal counsel. Reduced to the status of genuine political hostages, they languish out of sight, without ever being presented to their natural judges.

This policy of terror and arbitrariness is illustrated by a long list of emblematic cases that bear witness to the scale of ongoing liberticidal abuses:

Aubin Minaku and Emmanuel Ramazani Shadari

Respectively the former President of the National Assembly and the unsuccessful FCC candidate in the 2018 presidential election, both members of Joseph Kabila's PPRD, they endured over 200 days of detention in a secret location without visitation rights, before finally being transferred to the General Military Auditor's Office on Friday, August 7, 2026.

Dunia Kilanga Nyembo

National Secretary in charge of mobilization and propaganda for the PPRD and Director of the Party School, he was arbitrarily arrested and then transferred on the night of April 13, without any official explanation provided to date.

Pastor Daniel Ngoy Mulunda Nyanga

Former President of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), who sought refuge in Zambia where he was arrested on December 18, 2024, before being handed over to Congolese intelligence services. He has been held in secret ever since, despite the clear fragility of his health at the time of his arrest on Zambian soil.

Stéphane Shisso

Cameraman and member of opposition figure Moïse Katumbi's communication team, he was abducted from his home in Lubumbashi on December 19, 2025. Initially held in secret at the Kimbembe military camp under the control of the Republican Guard, he was recently transferred to Kinshasa, while the exact motives for his arrest remain entirely unknown.

Faced with this descent into a hell of fundamental freedoms in the heart of Africa, the inertia of the international community is as questioning as it is dismaying. The deafening silence of the UN Human Rights Council, the African Union (AU), and various regional organizations, walled up in a benevolent diplomatic neutrality, effectively grants a blank check for the perpetuation of these massive human rights violations.