Only one mention of the "National Allegiance Movement" (Mouvement d'engagement national, MEN) was found on the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social, UDPS) Website in a letter from the MEN's president, Bodo Malonda Nathalis (UDPS n.d.). In this letter, Nathalis expresses his desire to [translation] "make the world aware that our country [Democratic Republic of Congo] is currently disintegrating [for lack of] a leader with a clear vision of the future" (ibid.).

No mention of a Ludisi Street in the Njilichez, Njili or Ndjilichez area could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints for this Response, although one source did confirm that Njili and Ndjilichez are names of places that exist in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Mapquest 2003).

Two sources, however, referred to a Ludisi Avenue in the town of Ndjili, outside Kinshasa (AI 26 June 2001; Mbombo and Bayolo 2002). These sources report that ten UDPS members were arrested by police and officers of the National Intelligence Agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR) on 19 July 2000 on Ludisi Avenue, near the Ndjili international airport (ibid.; AI 26 June 2001). Country Reports 2000 also reports an incident at the Ndjili airport on 5 June 2000, during which security agents prevented leaders of opposition parties and civil society from travelling to Cotonou, Benin (23 Feb. 2001). However, no information on a demonstration in the Ndjili area around 27 June 2000 could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints for this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Amnesty International (AI). 26 June 2001. Democratic Republic of Congo - Torture: A Weapon of War Against Unarmed Civilians. http://web.amnesty.org/aidoc/aidoc_pdf.nsf/Index/AFR620122001ENGLISH/$File/AFR6201201.pdf [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000. 23 February 2001. Washington, DC: United States Department of State. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/af/753.htm [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Mapquest. 2003. World Maps. http://www.mapquest.com/maps [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Mbombo, Lisette Banza and Christian Hemedi Bayolo. 2002. Women's Rights Violations During the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo: From August 2, 1998 to September 30, 2001. Published by the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (ICHRDD). http://www.ichrdd.ca/english/commdoc/publications/women/congo/womRDC-warTable04Eng.html [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Union pour la démocratie et le progrès social (UDPS). n.d. "Mouvement d'engagement national (M.E.N.)." http://www.udps.org/Textes-Forum/malonda-250601.html [Accessed 16 Apr. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

The Europa World Year Book 2001-2002

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

Mondes rebelles : guérillas, milices, groupes terroristes 2001

Political Handbook of the World 1999

Internet sites, including:

African News Bulletin-Bulletin d'information africaine (ANB-BIA)

AllAfrica.com

BBC

Country Reports 2000-2001

The East African

European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI)

IRIN News

Le Monde

Lesoftonline

Mapquest

National Geographic

The Observer

United Nations (Cartographic Section)

World News Connection (WNC)

Search engines, including:

Google

Yahoo