Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to seek a fifth term in April elections, state media announced Sunday, despite health issues that have kept him largely out of the public eye for years.

The 81-year-old head of state, in power since 1999, declared his widely expected candidacy in a message to the nation that Algeria’s official APS news agency said it would release later the same day.

The president said he would set up an “inclusive national conference” to address “political, economic, and social” issues and “propose an enrichment of the constitution,” APS reported.

Bouteflika, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, had remained quiet about whether he would be a candidate in the lead-up to the April 18 poll.

The country’s ruling coalition — which includes the president’s National Liberation Front — lent its backing to Bouteflika earlier this month.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia has said Bouteflika’s health was not “an obstacle” to performing presidential duties.

Retired General Ali Ghediri, 64, was the first to announce his candidacy after the presidency set the election date.

The Movement for the Society of Peace Party will also take part, backing its candidate Abderrazak Makri. It has said Bouteflika would be unable to handle the demands of another term in office because of ill health.

The country’s oldest opposition party, the Front of Socialist Forces, announced on January 25 that it would not field a candidate and called for an “active, intensive, and peaceful boycott.”

(Source: AFP)

This needs someone who is heartless and inhumane to say let the Cameroon people resolve their own problems. This statement might sound reckless and inciting violence, but how does an unarmed person negotiate with the barrel of a gun pointed to his head? Maybe they need to be given guns to balance the negotiation because in this case there is no arbiter. The arbiter stands at arm’s length to ensure they do not get muddied by the blood of the uneducated, unsophisticated or those who claim they are too educated to dirty themselves with the details of a revolution and rewriting the wrongs of the past and present regimes including those who dare rise and question these practices.

When people talk about the ills of government it is blamed as regime change rhetoric and the influences of the west. But the west aint here and yet there is so much black on black violence by the government using the state organs and hiding behind rogue elements. The shooting of defenceless persons, serious beatings, gunshot wounds by the police and the military clearly show that Cameroon has failed to uphold the concept of sovereignty in the same way that Zimbabwe has, and many other African states.

The people we expect to protect the defenceless, the arbiters go into these countries and strengthen camaraderie relationships accusing people who are fed up of poor governance of being unruly opposition parties hell bent on destabilising the region or country. It is so unfair and unrealistic that we are being killed every day, killed by our own governments who are resorting to self-help to protect their bad governance and dictatorship. Assume the people were indeed unruly looters and promoting insurgence and traitors to the nation or rebellion against the fatherland, group rebellion and public disorder as per the charges levelled against Maurice Kamto, does not the state have lawful means of charging him and sending him to prison after a just trial without violating his rights? Why should soldiers be released on people and beat people working together with the police?

This has become a norm in Africa than an anomaly. We as the ADF take exception to the failure by the South African government seen as the big brother to condemn these actions but to actual send delegations in solidarity with such governments as seen with the ZANU and ANC meeting and the resolutions of that meeting. How can ZANU stop that abuse when the only African country that sits on the UN condones the butchering of people and such a violation of these fundamental human rights? South Africa is complicity in all the crimes that have been perpetuated by the various African leaders who have been killing their citizens with impunity and yet it has kept quiet and even shown such support for these people.

What is happening in Cameroon is the most gross violation of human rights that we can talk about and unfortunately it is not only happening there but across the divide of the continent and the AU is sitting over tea and coffee daily fraternising. The syndrome of passing the blame is seen again in Zimbabwe where ANC supports ZANU to blame sanctions for the killings. What caused the 1st August 2018 killings? What is causing the Cameroon atrocities? Clearly it must be the illegal regime change elements planted by the west? Please our leaders, do respect your people for once and take them seriously. We deal with serious problems of xenophobic attacks and we the ordinary people are fighting amongst ourselves over the meagre resources because the lion’s share is with our leaders. The people are suffering from the blunt consequences of this African rhetoric while the leaders are safe and protected and we are used as tools to kill each other. Who should we turn to? We flee these countries, our own heritage and the neighbours who watch in laughter and great disinterest to the plight of the poor men, also tighten their laws to ensure that we must go back to the burning furnace and in some cases they even incite locals to met street justice by killing these foreigners who are crowding and taking away the meagre resources causing poor service delivery is their pathetic line.

Our African leaders ae facilitating the spirit of divide and conquer so that the people of Africa do not come together but look at each other with great scepticism because they know that once the people come together and compare their notes a great revolt will overthrow and reject this mediocrity, looting and despotism across Africa.

We know that indeed we the people are nothing in the sight of the mighty giants, but our cry is for a small share of the loot, to live in peace and let them enjoy the loot without killing and maiming us. The situation in our African states, Cameroon, the DRC, Sudan, Zimbabwe and many that seem to have borrowed peace because elections are a distance off, is dire. We implore the AU, SADC and the United Nations to be true to the plight of the defenceless, the people. We cannot continue to allow bad governance to thrive while we hide behind state sovereignty and the principle of non-interference. It is this same kind of suffering and ostracization that led to our fathers standing up against the colonial regimes. We cannot afford to continue looking aside in the face of such inhumane raping, buttering, of people by soldiers and the police.

Do the people do not have rights? Or our rights are the right to be abused, killed, segregated against, right to suffer, to be uneducated, to be demeaned and dehumanised?  We therefore call upon the international community, the regional bodies and South Africa which has become home to so many migrants fleeing these atrocities to speak unashamedly against the brutality and violation of human rights in Cameroon. President Biya, is indeed a dictator who is holding the Cameroon people at ransom without leaving the Presidency. There is no one person more intelligent and superior than all others to rule over others alone and decide their fate. We live in an age of democratic constitutionalism which is being corrupted by our own leaders into perennial presidency without observed term limits.

The African Diaspora forum is saddened, appalled, ashamed, by the actions of those who are in a position to deal with these issues but instead choose to take the wrong side and join in on the oppression of the defenceless. We have many dying daily crossing the Mediterranean trying to flee to Europe and we ae not asking ourselves the million dollar question, why?

Dr Vusumuzi Sibanda – ADF Chairperson 

Felix Tshisekedi is to be sworn in on Thursday as president of Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the country’s first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections. At 55, opposition leader Tshisekedi takes over from Joseph Kabila who is stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest country.

The inauguration will take place at the Palace of the Nation, the seat of the presidency, at noon (1100 GMT), aides to Tshisekedi and Kabila said on Wednesday.

One of Tshisekedi’s first tasks will be to appoint a prime minister in a move which will see him sharing power with Kabila’s supporters, who hold an overwhelming majority in parliament.

The ceremony caps more than two years of turmoil sparked by Kabila’s refusal to step down when he reached the constitutional limit on his term in office.

Turbulence

A country the size of continental western Europe, DR Congo has lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003.

The last two presidential elections, in 2006 and 2011 — both of which were won by Kabila — were marred by bloody clashes.

The ballot, which took place on December 30 after being delayed three times, surprised many by the lack of violence, but a political storm swiftly brewed over the count.

Tshisekedi was declared winner with 38.5 percent of the vote, over his opposition rival Martin Fayulu, who was credited with 34.8 percent.

Fayulu branded the result a fix but lost a challenge to the Constitutional Court and foreign support for his position ebbed as countries took comfort in a peaceful transition.

“The opposition has run out of recourse to challenge the election results and the threat of widespread post-election violence is gradually subsiding,” said Robert Besseling of EXX Africa, a business risk consultancy.

Many challenges

Tshisekedi heads the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), DR Congo’s oldest and largest opposition party, which was founded and led by his father Etienne.

Analysts say he faces a raft of pressing problems after taking the oath of office. He must defuse the anger of Fayulu’s supporters, carry out his campaign pledge of ending the “gangrene” of corruption after the Kabila era, and forge a power-sharing arrangement with the outgoing president’s bloc.

The pro-Kabila Joint Front for Congo (FCC), controls 337 seats in the 500-member National Assembly against 102 for Fayulu’s coalition, Lamuka, and 46 for his own coalition, Heading for Change (Cach).

“Tshisekedi will have little margin for manoeuvre,” said Stephanie Wolters at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS) think tank.

According to a “political coalition agreement” seen by AFP which outlines an arrangement for “power-sharing” between the FCC and Cach, the position of prime minister “will be rotated every five years.”

And the defence, foreign affairs and interior portfolios will go to “the president’s political family”.

Kabila himself will become a senator for life, a position reserved for outgoing presidents under the constitution, but he is widely expected to wield influence through his supporters. His family has acquired a wide range of assets during the many years in power.

Kabila congratulated Tshisekedi on the eve of his inauguration, saying he will hand over power to his successor “without regret or remorse”.

In his first speech since the election, Kabila said Tshisekedi can count on him “whenever he wants” and called for a “grand coalition of all the progressive forces”.

“A coalition against the predatory forces that have come together and will always try to join forces to monopolise our natural resources,” he said.

Conflict and poverty

Beyond the politics, Tsishekedi also has to deal with the brutal militias who control parts of the country’s strife-torn east where an Ebola epidemic is also unfolding.

He also has to meet the expectations of his supporters about easing poverty, which afflicts the vast majority of the country’s 80 million citizens.

Despite the poverty, DR Congo boasts a treasure trove of minerals, ranging from gold and diamonds to copper and coltan — a mineral essential for the batteries used in hand-held electronic devices.

Yet, in a country where graft is entrenched, very little of the wealth trickles down to the poor. It ranks a mere 176th on the 189-nation Human Development Index compiled by the United Nations’ Development Programme (UNDP).

(AFP)

DR Congo’s top court on Sunday declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner of disputed presidential elections after throwing out a legal challenge by the runner-up.

Announcing the final results of the long awaited poll, the Constitutional Court said Tshisekedi had won by a simple majority, paving the way for him to take over from longterm leader Joseph Kabila in an official ceremony on Tuesday.

Runner-up Martin Fayulu immediately called on the international community to reject the results, after the court said his appeal was “unfounded”.

“I ask the entire international community not to recognise a power that has neither legitimacy nor legal standing to represent the Congolese people,” he said of Tshisekedi, declaring himself “the only legitimate president”.

Inspired by

Tshisekedi’s victory was first announced earlier this month based on provisional results by the Independent National Election Commission (CENI) but it was challenged both at home and abroad, with the African Union appealing for the final results to be delayed.

On Sunday, the Consitutional Court said Fayulu had failed to prove any inaccuracies. “Only the CENI has produced authentic and sincere results,” judge Noel Kilomba said.

Hundreds of supporters of Tshisekedi had gathered outside the court holding placards saying “No to interference” and “Independent country” as riot police stood nearby.

‘Not their business’

The election commission announced on January 10 that Tshisekedi had provisionally won with 38.57 percent of the vote against Fayulu’s 34.8 percent.

Fayulu denounced the figures as an “electoral coup” forged by Tshisekedi and Kabila, and filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court.

At a summit on Thursday, AU leaders said there were “serious doubts” about the vote’s provisional results and called for the announcement of the final results to be suspended.

But DR Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende had snubbed the demand, saying: “I don’t think it is the business of the government or even of the African Union to tell the court what it should do.”

The AU also announced that its commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, currently the AU chairman, were expected to fly to DR Congo on Monday.

The European Union said it joined the AU in inviting “all the Congolese players to work constructively with this (AU) delegation to find a post-electoral solution which respects the Congolese people’s vote”.

Appeal

The Financial Times and other foreign media have reported seeing documents that confirm Fayulu as the winner.

“If the court declares Tshisekedi victor, the risk of isolation would be enormous and untenable for a country positioned right in the middle of the continent,” Adeline Van Houtte of the Economist Intelligence Unit wrote on Twitter.

Fayulu’s camp had hailed the AU appeal for the final result to be put on hold, but Tshisekedi’s entourage branded it “scandalous”.

The dispute has raised fears that the political crisis that began when Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutional term in office two years ago, could turn into a bloodbath. The vast and chronically unstable country lived through two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003, and the previous two elections, in 2006 and 2011, were marred by bloody clashes.

The AU has taken the firmest line of all major international bodies with regard to the post-election crisis. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), a bloc that includes Angola and South Africa, initially called for a recount and a unity government.

But in a later communique, it made no mention of those demands, instead calling on Congolese politicians to “address any electoral grievances in line with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitution and relevant electoral laws”.

(AFP)

The African Union on Thursday called on Democratic Republic of Congo to suspend the release of the final results of its disputed presidential election due to its doubts over the provisional results.

The rare move from the group injects fresh uncertainty into the post-election process, which was meant to usher in the country’s first democratic transfer of power in 59 years of independence, but has been mired in controversy since the Dec. 30 vote.

The final tally is scheduled to be released by the election commission once the constitutional court has ruled on challenges to the provisional results on Friday, but the union called for this to be postponed following a meeting in Addis Ababa.

“The Heads of State and Government attending the meeting concluded that there were serious doubts on the conformity of the provisional results as proclaimed by the National Independent Electoral Commission, with the verdict of the ballot boxes,” it said in a statement.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision was unprecedented. “I cannot remember another instance where the AU called for a suspension of certification of results.”

The Congolese foreign ministry declined to comment on the union’s statement and the office of President Joseph Kabila could not immediately be reached.

Opposition leader and election runner-up Martin Fayulu has requested the recount, claiming he won by a landslide and that the victory of another opposition figure, Felix Tshisekedi, was engineered by the authorities. Election officials deny the results were rigged.

The dispute risks further destabilising the volatile Central African country, where previous elections have been followed by violence. Earlier on Thursday, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) eased pressure on Congolese authorities by backing off earlier calls for a recount.

Following an emergency meeting, the 16-member bloc said they would not push for one and called on the international community to respect the Congolese electoral process.

Fayulu, a former Exxon Mobil manager, says Tshisekedi, who is the president of Congo’s largest opposition party, struck a deal with outgoing president Kabila to be declared winner.

Tshisekedi’s and Kabila’s camps deny that. Congo is the world’s leading miner of cobalt, used in electric car batteries and mobile phones, and Africa’s biggest copper producer. It also mines gold and diamonds. But unrest, disorganisation and corruption have left many in poverty and dissatisfied with Kabila’s rule.

Court judgement

Fayulu has said he is not confident he will win on Friday before the nine-judge Constitutional Court, which he considers friendly to Kabila. The United States on Wednesday kept up the pressure on Kinshasa, vowing to “hold accountable” anyone who undermines democratic processes.

Domestic election monitors noted a range of voting irregularities, and the Catholic Church said official results are inconsistent with its own tallies.

Three diplomats briefed on the Church’s findings said they show that Fayulu won a clear victory. In a report on Thursday, domestic election observer mission SYMOCEL called on the national electoral commission to publish results for each of the more than 50,000 polling stations.

SYMOCEL also said that the commission had relied on results taken from voting machines with USB sticks rather than hand-counted tallies in legislative and provincial assembly elections held the same day, in violation of electoral law.

A commission spokeswoman had no immediate comment. Kabila’s ruling coalition won a clear majority in those elections, which could undermine the next president’s ability to make a break with the outgoing president’s 18-year tenure.

(REUTERS)

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, who has been out of the country for two months recovering from a stroke, named a new prime minister on Saturday in an apparent effort to shore up his political base days after a failed coup attempt.

The plotters of Monday’s coup attempt were arrested or killed within hours of seizing the national radio station, but the move reflected growing frustration with a government weakened by Bongo’s secretive medical leave in Morocco.

In a decree read by the secretary-general of the presidency on national television early on Saturday morning, Bongo named Julien Nkoghe Bekale as prime minister, replacing Emmanuel Issoze-Ngondet, who has served since 2016.

Issoze-Ngondet’s tenure was marked by a sharp drop in oil output and prices that has squeezed revenues, raised debt and stoked discontent in the OPEC member state.

Oil workers’ strikes have become more common, and economic growth was 2 percent last year, down from over 7 percent in 2011.

The nomination of Nkoghe Bekale, 56, who has held several ministerial posts since 2009, represents a return to a tradition begun by Bongo’s father, Omar, of choosing prime ministers from the Fang, Gabon’s largest ethnic group.

Omar Bongo ruled Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009, establishing the country as a pillar of “Francafrique,” a web of influence that gave companies from former colonial power France favored access to African autocrats.

The Bongos come from a smaller ethnic group, and the appointments were a way of broadening the president’s base. But Ali Bongo, who succeeded his father when he died, bucked tradition in 2016 by choosing Issoze-Ngondet, who comes from a different ethnic group.

Bongo’s absence from Gabon since his Oct. 24 stroke in Saudi Arabia has raised questions about his ability to continue carrying out his official functions, although the government has insisted he is recovering well.

A Dec. 31 address from Morocco in which the 59-year-old president slurred his speech and appeared unable to move his right arm failed to reassure many Gabonese and was cited as one of the coup plotters’ reasons for acting.

Bongo won re-election in 2016 by fewer than 6,000 votes amid widespread accusations of fraud, sparking deadly clashes between protesters and police during which the parliament was torched.

(Source: Reuters)

DR Congo’s powerful Catholic Church says election results tallied by its observers do not match official results announced on Thursday by the country’s election commission, which named Felix Tshisekedi as the surprise winner.

In a pre-dawn announcement, the election commission named Tshisekedi, son of the country’s late veteran opposition leader, as provisional winner of the bitterly-contested December 30 vote – a surprise result his main opponent promptly denounced as an “electoral coup”.

Just hours later, the Church said election results tallied by its 40,000 observers scattered across the country showed a different winner, without specifying who.

“We see that the result of the presidential election as published by CENI (the electoral commission) does not correspond with the data collected by our observer mission from polling stations and counting centres,” said Father Donatien Nshole, spokesman for the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), which represents the country’s Catholic bishops.

At stake is political stewardship of the notoriously unstable central African nation which has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960. Runner-up Martin Fayulu, the pre-election favourite, said the results announced on Thursday do “not reflect the truth of the ballots”, urging the Congolese to “rise as one man to protect victory”.

In an unusually blunt comment on a foreign election, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also waded into the controversy, describing the results as “not consistent” with observers’ reports. He added: “The Catholic Church of Congo did its tally and announced completely different results.”

Last week CENCO called on the election commission to publish results “in keeping with truth and justice”, adding that data in its possession pointed to a clear winner. The United States on Thursday demanded “clarification” over the result, stopping short of recognising Tshisekedi as the winner.

“The National Independent Electoral Commission has announced provisional results, but we await clarification of questions which have been raised regarding the electoral count… We urge all stakeholders to remain calm as the process continues,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

The last two elections in 2006 and 2011, both of which were won by incumbent Joseph Kabila, were marred by bloodshed, and many fear a repeat of the violence if there is any sense the result has been fixed.

The Catholic Church has long been pressing for the departure of Kabila, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2001 and who has stayed in power as caretaker leader even though his second and final elected term ended in December 2016.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS, AFP)

The son of DR Congo’s veteran opposition leader, Felix Tshisekedi, has taken the prize that long eluded his father – the presidency of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest country – in a surprise result his main opponent has denounced as an “electoral coup”.

On Thursday Tshisekedi was named by election officials as the provisional winner of the country’s long-delayed, chaotic and controversial presidential poll, in a surprise announcement that appeared to contradict both pre-election surveys and the findings of independent monitors.

Runner-up Martin Fayulu, the pre-election favourite, promptly denounced the results as an “electoral coup” that does “not reflect the truth of the ballots”.

In a rare comment on a foreign election, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also waded into the controversy, describing the results as “the opposite to what we expected”. He added: “The Catholic Church of Congo did its tally and announced completely different results.”

If Tshisekedi’s stunning victory is confirmed by the constitutional court, he will become the first Congolese leader to take power at the ballot box since Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, who was toppled and killed in a coup shortly after independence in 1960.

‘A historic vote and a historic win’

Tshisekedi is the head of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), a party founded by his father Etienne, who spent decades as the country’s main opposition leader but died in February last year.

Known to his friends as “Fatshi”, the portly 55-year-old is now poised to replace President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the volatile, poverty-stricken nation with an iron fist since 2001.

But for a while, it looked like he wouldn’t even be on the ballot.

Pentecostal rivals

On November 11, Tshisekedi joined six other opposition leaders in rallying behind Fayulu to take on Kabila’s handpicked successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

But the deal drew a furious response from his supporters, prompting him and fellow opposition leader Vital Kamerhe to abandon the deal and run on a joint ticket, weakening and splitting the opposition.

The pair had previously agreed that if they won, Kamerhe would become Tshisekedi’s prime minister.

Profile: Felix Tshisekedi

Since his father founded the UDPS in 1982, the party has served as an opposition mainstay in the former Belgian colony – first under dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, then under Kabila’s father Laurent-Desire Kabila, who ruled from 1997 until his death in 2001. A father of five, Tshisekedi goes to the same Pentecostal church as Fayulu in Kinshasa, the capital.

Although he does not enjoy the same degree of popularity as his father, he has risen steadily through the party ranks. “Etienne was stubborn and proud,” said one keen observer of the country’s opposition. “Felix is more diplomatic, more conciliatory, more ready to listen to others.”

‘Coup’

In 2008, Tshisekedi became national secretary for external relations and was elected to the national assembly in 2011 as representative for Mbuji-Mayi, the country’s third city.

However, he never took up his seat as he did not formally recognise his father’s defeat to Kabila in a presidential election the same year. A month after his father’s death, Tshisekedi was elected as party head.

Although he holds a Belgian diploma in marketing and communication, his opponents point out that he has never held high office or had managerial experience. And some detractors have even suggested his diploma is not valid.

The legacy of DR Congo’s Joseph Kabila

Tshisekedi has promised a return to the rule of law, to fight the “gangrene” of corruption and to bring peace to the volatile east of the country, where several militias remain active more than 15 years after the end of DR Congo’s bloody civil war.

However, the result of the presidential election, which observers said was marred by a spate of irregularities, is certain to fuel suspicions among Fayulu’s supporters that Tshisekedi struck a power-sharing pact with Kabila – suspicions heightened by his victory speech on Thursday, in which he described his former bitter opponent Kabila as a “partner of democratic change”.

Fayulu, who was running well ahead of Tshisekedi in opinion polls ahead of the election, on Thursday called on the Congolese people to “rise as one man to protect victory.” Analysts have warned that any widespread perception the election has been stolen could trigger a cycle of unrest, particularly in the eastern borderlands where Fayulu enjoys some of his strongest support.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

The long-awaited announcement of the results of last week’s DR Congo presidential election, promised for Sunday, will be postponed to next week, the head of the electoral commission announced on Saturday.

 “It is not possible to publish the results on Sunday. We are making progress, but we do not have everything yet,” said commission president Corneille Nangaa. An exact new date has not been announced.

Last Sunday’s DR Congo presidential election has proved most divisive. The United Nations Security Council is split over how to react to this election process, according to an internal report. The United States also condemned a lack of transparency, while China, a major investor in DR Congo, lauded the process.

The election to pick a successor to President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled the country of 80 million people since his father was assassinated in 2001, should mark the first democratic transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

But tensions have risen since the vote after observers reported a litany of irregularities that the opposition says is part of the ruling party’s effort to steal it.

Worried that the dispute could spark the kind of violence seen after the 2006 and 2011 elections, the Security Council met on Friday to discuss how to react.

“Tensions were mounting while the CENI tabulated the results, notably in light of posturing by parties and candidates,” Leila Zerrougui, head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo, told the meeting, according to the internal report.

But the 15 council members “differed in their appreciation of the problems that beset the process and were divided over the question of whether the Council should issue a press statement,” the report went on to say.

A negative or cautionary international reaction could be problematic for Kabila whose government has defended the election’s organisation, and could weaken the legitimacy of Kabila’s hand-picked successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, should he be declared winner.

Inflame the situation

In Saturday’s meeting, France pushed for the publication of a statement that recognised that Congo’s election allowed people to exercise their democratic right and called for calm, but criticised the government’s decision to cut access to the Internet and some media outlets.

The United States, which has threatened to impose sanctions against those who undermine the election process and has deployed troops to Gabon in case its citizens need rescuing from any violence, backed the statement, alongside Britain, Ivory Coast, Belgium and others.

South Africa, long a Kabila ally, said the statement could “inflame” the situation if issued before the results, the report said. Russia said it could be seen as an attempt to skew public opinion. China “lauded the manner in which elections were conducted”, the report said, and said a statement should not be published before the results.

Initial results were expected on Sunday but the electoral board (CENI) said they could be delayed because vote counts were slow in arriving. The opposition, represented by its two main candidates Martin Fayulu and Felix Tshisekedi, and the ruling coalition say their candidates have won.

Congo’s Catholic church body, CENCO, said this week that it had identified the victor based on its own tallies collected by 40,000 observers, though it did not name the winner. The declaration was widely seen as a warning to authorities against rigging the vote.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)

People have started voting in the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, amid delays and reported disorganization.

On Sunday, polling staffers were setting up voting machines in stations minutes before opening.

Reuters cited a witness in the eastern city of Goma as seeing residents casting their vote, but another polling station in the city was still closed 90 minutes after polls opened at 06:00 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT).

President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power since his father’s assassination in 2001, is not standing for re-election and will step down after the vote.

Kabila’s party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), has designated former Interior Minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, 58, as its presidential candidate.

As well as Ramazani, the front-runners are Felix Tshisekedi, 55, of the mainstream opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), and Martin Fayulu, 62, a little-known lawmaker and former oil executive, who has made a late surge after being named the joint candidate for several opposition parties.

A total of 21 candidates are running in the presidential race.

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday urged rival candidates to participate in a peaceful competition.

Guterres urged citizens to “seize this historic opportunity to participate in the consolidation of the country’s democratic institutions.”

The call for a peaceful vote came a few days after clashes between the supporters of rival candidates left at least one person dead and over 80 injured.

DR Congo is one of Africa’s most volatile countries and has never known a peaceful transition of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

In the past 22 years, two massive wars have shaken the country, claiming many lives and sucking in armies from around Southern and Central Africa.

Lower-level conflicts are burning in the center and east of the country, which analysts say could easily flare into fully-fledged wars.

Source: Presstv