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Bloomberg
Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi was twice refused permission to return home to register for the December presidential election, his campaign team said. The government rejected the allegations. Katumbi, in self-imposed exile since May 2016, had planned to fly to Lubumbashi, his home town in southeast Democratic Republic of Congo, on August 3 but his jet was denied permission to land, according to his chief-of-staff, Olivier Kamitatu. Instead, he flew to Ndola in northern Zambia and tried to cross the land border on August 03 and August 04, Kamitatu said.
The first attempt was thwarted by a closed border post while on Saturday Congolese officials instructed their Zambian counterparts not to let Katumbi cross, Kamitatu said. “The Zambian authorities have officially informed us that the Congolese government has refused to allow him to cross the border and enter his country,†he said. Supporters gathered at the Congo-Zambia border hoping to welcome Katumbi. Congo Communications Minister Lambert Mende denied Kamitatu’s allegations, saying that it was “one more manipulation†and that Katumbi didn’t submit a request to land or present himself to border officials.