DRC: Bemba’s return raises hope for change ahead of election

After spending more than a decade in prison in The Hague, Congolese opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba is expected to arrive back in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday.

Former Congolese vice president and rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba returns to the DRC on Wednesday, after his International Criminal Court conviction was overturned in May.

Bemba has declared he wants to run for president, shaking up Congolese politics ahead of a long-delayed election and instilling hope in his supporters, even before he actually returns.

Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi reports from the capital Kinshasa.

By Catherine Wambua-Soi