Nobel Peace Prize Laureate announces bid for DRC prez polls

Kinshasa, Oct 3

Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his nearly two-decade fight against sexual violence, has officially announced his bid for the country's presidential election scheduled to take place on December 20.

"The right moment is now. My only motivation is to save our homeland, to develop our country. We are with the people. We cannot wait to react. I am going there now," Xinhua news agency quoted the 68-year-old as saying while addressing a large crowd of sympathisers gathered in the capital Kinshasa, stressing his urge to save his country.

Mukwege, also a Pentecostal pastor. treated hundreds of war rape victims through the Panzi Foundation he founded in 1999 in the conflict-ravaged eastern DRC.

Mukwege and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.

He will compete with outgoing President Felix Tshisekedi, while opposition leader Martin Fayulu, who came second behind Tshisekedi in the 2018 election, also announced his candidacy over the weekend.