Bemba to contest presidential poll

The former Vice-President of the DRC, Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was acquitted last month of war crimes, was named on Friday by his party as a candidate in presidential polls planned for December, says a News24 report. Last week the DRC said Bemba could apply for a diplomatic passport to return home after he was acquitted of war crimes in The Hague. The DRC is in the grip of a crisis over the future of President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the country since 2001 and has remained in office, despite a two-term constitutional limit that expired in December 2016. He has remained in power under a constitutional clause that enables a President to stay in office until his or her successor is elected. On 8 June, judges at the International Criminal Court overturned a 2016 conviction against Bemba for five counts of war crimes committed by his militia in the Central African Republic in 2002-2003. They ruled he could not be held criminally liable for the atrocities, which included murder, rape and looting, as he was unable to influence the militia's conduct. However, it remains unclear whether he faces any threat of prosecution if he sets foot on DRC soil, after authorities issued a warrant in 2007 against him over the violence and for alleged arson at the Supreme Court.