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Congo opposition leader Bemba returns home for presidential bid

Congolese opposition leader and former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba is pictured after a news conference in Brussels, Belgium July 24, 2018.

Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba returned home on Wednesday after a decade in prison in The Hague for a presidential run expected to pose a stiff challenge to President Joseph Kabila or his successor in December’s election.

Bemba, whose war crimes convictions at the International Criminal Court (ICC) were quashed on appeal in May, touched down at Kinshasa’s N’Djili airport where thousands of cheering supporters wore T-shirts, hats, scarves and robes bearing his image.

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