Congolese elections

[Jens]

Read all about in on IRIN's special homepage
http://www.irinnews.org/DRCelection.asp

[Jens]

Any results yet?

They only started voting today and given the caotic infrastructure in Congo, it will probably take days perhaps even a week before the final result are up.

[Jens]

KINSHASA, 28 Jul 2006 (IRIN) - Columns of smoke rose over Kinshasa on Thursday as political violence claimed the lives of three policemen and at least three civilians ahead of Sunday's elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The headquarters of the Independent Media Authority, set up to ensure fair media coverage, was set on fire, as was the compound housing the bodyguards of Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, a candidate for the presidency.

The charred bodies of two babies lay in front of the compound as women howled with grief. "This means war," said one man who was too angry to give his name.

International observers of the elections and United Nations staff were told to stay off the streets, although by the evening the warning had been lifted.

Three policemen died in the violence, the governor of Kinshasa, Kibembe Mazunga, said on state television on Friday.

Neither government authorities nor the UN had given an official toll of the death and destruction by Friday afternoon.

"This was not a good day though it could have been worse. It can be expected in the context of the political jousting," Kemal Saiki, the spokesman for the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC), told IRIN on Thursday. "We are still hopeful that it will not deteriorate further."

Supporters of President Joseph Kabila reportedly attacked those of Bemba, who rallied at Kinshasa's Tata Raphael Stadium and filled it beyond its 50,000 capacity.

Police clashed with the supporters, using tear gas and shooting in the air. After they failed to disperse, witnesses said, police shot into the crowd killing at least one person.

Crowds attacked and burned down buildings owned by public figures linked to Kabila. One was a church led by the evangelist priest, the Rev Sony Kafuta. Another was a concert hall owned by star musician Noel Ngiama Makanda known as Werrason, a strong Kabila supporter.

At a news conference on Friday, Ross Mountain, the Deputy Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General in charge of Humanitarian Affairs in Kinshasa, presented his condolences to the families of the people who died in the violence. At the same time he said most of us "are still here the next day, and Kinshasa is again quiet".

He expressed confidence in the police. "We believe events like yesterday’s show that the police and national authorities can control such situations," he said.

The UN has some 17,000 troops in the country, the largest UN force in the world. A special unit of 2,000 troops from the European Union supports it.

[Jens]

DRC: Kabila, Mobutu's son sign pact to form government
A bit of news from Congo. Seems like Kabila is trying to gain some ground in the Western parts

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KINSHASA, 18 October (IRIN) - Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who faces Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba in a second-round presidential poll, has agreed to include one of the sons of late President Mobutu Sese Seko in his government should he win the 29 October contest.

After signing the agreement on Tuesday in the capital, Kinshasa, François Joseph Zanga Mobutu, who heads the Union des démocrates Mobutistes (UDEMO) political party, said: "UDEMO is calling on Congolese men and women, young and old, to vote massively for President Kabila in the next round of elections."

Kabila secured 44.8 percent of the vote during the first round in July but this was not enough for an outright victory. Bemba, one of four vice-presidents, garnered 20 percent, beating a crowded field of candidates to face off with Kabila in the second round.

According to the Kabila-Mobutu pact, UDEMO would play a major role in government should Kabila become president.

"In addition to its high political consequences, this agreement translates in reality into reconciliation and putting aside individual pride for the overall interest of the nation," Kabila said. "It is also a nationalist gesture of a generation that wants to overcome ideological arguments and to prove wrong those who think that the east and west are irreconcilable."

Most of the votes Kabila won in the first round came from the eastern part of his country, his home area, while Bemba, who hails from Equateur Province, received the majority of his votes from the west. This is the reason for the alliance Kabila has made with Mobutu, who is from the same province as Bemba.

Kabila has also entered into an alliance with Antoine Gizenga, 83, who came third in the first round and heads the Parti Lumumbiste Unifié (PALU), whose stronghold is in Bandundu, another western province.

Mobutu said he was happy to join Kabila's electoral platform, known as l'Alliance de la majorite presidentielle (AMP), which incorporates politicians who have been former rulers. These include the Lumumbists represented by Gizenga; Kabila's group, represented by President Kabila whose father, Laurent-Desire Kabila was assassinated in office in 2001; and the Mobutists.

Mobutu was one of 31 candidates who contested the first round of the presidential polls; he came fourth with 4 percent of the vote.

The Kabila-Mobutu pact comes on the fourth day of the electoral campaign, launched on Saturday for the next 15 days, which has been marred by violence between Kabila and Bemba supporters.

[Jens]

DRC: Kabila, Bemba pledge to keep the peace after poll

KINSHASA, 30 October (IRIN) - The Democratic Republic of Congo's incumbent President Joseph Kabila and his challenger in Sunday's presidential election run-off, Jean-Pierre Bemba, have pledged to respect the results and promised that whoever loses the poll would not resort to violence.

Representatives of both men signed a post-election declaration of intention document on Sunday, in which they promised that the loser would renounce force. They pledged that any poll disputes would be resolved legally, as required under the election law.

The document requires that, in the event of unrest, both candidates would publicly appeal to their supporters to keep the peace.

The agreement also stipulates that the winner ensure the personal safety of the loser and that his property and financial assets be respected in line with national and international norms. The loser's bodyguards would also be accorded respect, according to the document.

The losing candidate would support in full the establishment of institutions and engage in politics without resorting to acts of direct or indirect violence, it says. He will be guaranteed the freedom of movement to visit all part of the country, it added.

Observers welcomed the accord, but expressed some doubts over its implementation.

"Congo is the winner here because today we can say that the results of the second round are not going to help create the scope for further fighting like that which occurred during the first round," Jean-Marie Labila, a political analyst at the University of Kinshasa and adviser to the Ministry of International Cooperation, said.

Three days of heavy fighting between Kabila's and Bemba's security guards after the announcement of the provisional results of the first round of the presidential elections left at least 23 people dead in Kinshasa. The violence only ended with the intervention of the United Nations Mission in Congo, the European Union force and African Union envoys.

Other analysts said peace would depend on the sincerity of both candidates.

"The accord was signed under international pressure, but if the margin is wide, the winner will assume a certain arrogance and can isolate the loser," said Philippe Biyoya, professor of political science at the Protestant University of Congo.

ei/jn/mw