Politics

24, January 2019

Of Biya and the Chinese, CDC, PAMOL and business tycoon Danpullo ⁰

The Chinese government recently announced that it has written off almost $78m (£60m) from Cameroon’s debt as part of measures to ease economic hardship in the country, but it is evidently clear that China is exploiting a desperate regime that is taking the last kicks of a dying horse and playing for greater access to Cameroon resources.

Beijing and Yaounde made public the debt relief announcement on Friday last week shortly after a meeting between the 85 year old President Paul Biya and Yang Jiechi, a special representative of China’s President Xi Jinping.

Chinese media houses also reported that Cameroon’s total debt burden to China stands at almost $5.7bn (£4.4bn), citing figures from the Autonomous Sinking Fund, the public entity that manages Cameroon’s external debt. We also gathered from the Biya-Yang Jiechi press release that the sum of $78m that has been wiped is money that should have been paid in 2018, but which Cameroon failed to pay.

Finally, the Chinese have taken over Cameroon (to be precise) French Cameroun and the roots of Chinese colonization are very deep that not even the French can decolonized. The Chinese gesture without mincing words is NOT an act of charity. We now have evidence that Biya and his ruling CPDM gang have handed over the mines in the East region and the iron ore deposits in the South to the Chinese.

President Biya flew to China for the third Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation in September and pleaded with Chinese authorities to ease Cameroon’s debt burden. The Special Representative of China’s President Xi Jinping has been quoted by our intelligence sources in Yaoundé as saying that Xi Jinping made it very clear to Biya “If you cannot pay, then hand over the mines to us.”

The Chinese are not in Cameroon to play; they are pursuing a well-calculated mission of taking over the country. Russia is already installing a military base in the Central African Republic that will benefit both Beijing and Moscow if the French attempt to disrupt the plan.

A French Cameroun ministerial task team established by the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo regime has reported that CDC and PAMOL are now a thing of the past. We of this publication think, Biya and his crime syndicate should be held responsible for the collapse of these two gigantic agro-industrial plants as the leadership of the CDC and PAMOL are both connected to the crimes committed against Southern Cameroonians.

Governor Okalia Bilai (Board Chair PAMOL) and Itoe Benjamin (Board Chair CDC) including the general managers were among the so-called South West Elites who ordered Nkemgu Martin to read a communiqué addressed to President Biya demanding the deployment of more troops to kill the laborers, their children and the local population working in these plantations. They must now face the far reaching consequences of their actions.

Baba Danpullo’s empire too is collapsing at catastrophic rapidity! The internet shut down in Southern Cameroons greatly affected the man who is a chartered Biya business partner. He wrongfully thought that the crisis in Southern Cameroons was a repeat of the CPDM/SDF political tug-of-war in 1990. Correspondingly, he attempted to put the Muslim population at daggers-drawn positions with the people of Southern Cameroons. That venture failed and today the Vietnamese who originally owned Nexttel are soon to take him to an international court. He is the right man to tell Biya that it is cheaper to talk for 1000 years than to fight for just a day.

By Rita Akana in Yaounde

24, January 2019

Congo-Kinshasa set for historic transfer of power under shadow of disputed election ⁰

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)

23, January 2019

EU, AU Signal Support for Contested Congo President-Elect ⁰

The European Union and the African Union said on Tuesday they had taken note of the decision by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Constitutional Court to back disputed president-elect Felix Tshisekedi, signalling they would work with him.

Asked about the Dec. 30 election, the EU and the AU said they discussed the outcome at a meeting in Brussels, noting the court’s support for Tshisekedi. Officials at a news conference did not explicitly say in public that they recognized him as the winner, however.

Reuters

21, January 2019

Cabinet Reshuffle: The Rise and Rise of Chantal Biya ⁰

Ever since the formation of the last two governments, (March 02, 2017 and January 4, 2019), Cameroonian public opinion including that of the independent press have attributed a vast majority of those appointed to first lady Chantal Biya.

Some senior editorialists have even observed that Chantal Biya named the Philemon Yang and now Dion Ngute governments which have several relatives of the Cameroonian lady holding key positions in the cabinet and heading lucrative state-owned companies. These Chantal Biya family members are very influential and feared by other members serving in the Biya regime.

Many in Yaounde, the nation’s capital have opined that Chantal Biya is slowly but surely positioning her kinsmen and women in leading position in the administration. Among them, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister Secretary-General of the presidency of the republic, the most powerful member of the Chantal Biya galaxy who was made minister of state on the 4^th of January.

There is also Pierre Ismael Bidoung Mkpatt Minister of Sports, (his wife Habissou Bidoung Mkpatt is in the circle of the closest to the first lady) and Oswald Baboke, (originally from the East and not Nanga-Eboko as the wife of the Cameroonian president). Oswald Baboke is the deputy director of the civil cabinet, responsible for the private affairs of the first lady. Baboke is currently one of Cameroon’s most influential leaders.

Cat calls greeted the Dion Ngute government and subsequently generated some controversies over the weekend when a large number of Cameroon government ministers appointed on the 4^th of January 2019 traveled to Nanga-Eboko, Chantal Biya’s hometown and stronghold of Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh for a meeting of thanks to the head of state for appointing them into the government.

By Sama Ernest with files

20, January 2019

Nigeria: Corruption takes centre stage in election campaign ⁰

Corruption is taking centre stage in the run-up to Nigeria’s presidential elections, with the incumbent accused of failing to tackle the scourge of graft and his challenger facing claims about his past.

Muhammadu Buhari, an austere and pious former general, will take on wealthy former vice-president Atiku Abubakar at the polls on February 16.

Both are ethnic Hausas, Muslims from the country’s north. Buhari, who rose to power in 2015 on a promise to eradicate the “cancer” of graft gnawing at Africa’s most populous nation, has cultivated an image of blamelessness.

Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s political “godfather” closely allied with Buhari, earlier this month described him as “a straight and honest man”.

“Leave a naira (local currency) on the table with Buhari in the room. You will find the naira on the table when you return,” he said, in a thinly veiled criticism of Abubakar.

For his part, Abubakar is alleged to have amassed several hundred million dollars by misusing public funds as vice-president under Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 — yet he has never been investigated in his own country.

“On the issue of corruption, I have challenged anyone, anywhere, who has any evidence of corruption against me to come forward,” Abubakar has said.

“I will shock everyone because I believe that I will fight corruption like never before.” But in the United States, Abubakar’s name has popped up in a Senate investigation into money laundering.

It charged in a 2010 report that US national Jennifer Douglas, Abubakar’s fourth wife, “helped her husband bring over $40 million (35 million euros) in suspect funds into the United States through wire transfers sent by offshore corporations to US bank accounts.”

The couple are also accused of having received more than two million dollars in commissions for a contract with German industrial giant Siemens, which has since pleaded guilty in the case.

– Two essential reforms –

But this week Abubakar put paid to rumours that he was subject to a visa ban and unable to travel to the US by jetting to Washington for meetings with American counterparts. Abubakar told AFP last year he would retain no stakes in his various companies if he is elected president.

His sprawling business empire includes interests in telecommunications, transport, real estate, agriculture, import/export and healthcare.

Verifying his pledge to stand aside will be difficult in the opaque economic system in Nigeria, which global watchdog Transparency International ranked in the 148th place of a total 180 countries for corruption in 2017.

Buhari stands in stark contrast to his flamboyant fellow northerner’s private jet, Rolex watches and luxury cars.

His spokesman in 2015 said the president had “an austere and spartan lifestyle”, unlike other Nigerian politicians who have amassed wealth during their careers.

But Buhari, who vowed to usher in more transparent and accountable government, has come under harsh criticism for an apparent lack of progress in the fight against graft.

Steps in the right direction have included two essential reforms — a single Treasury account for all government revenue and the introduction of a biometric identification system in banks to better trace clients and transfers of funds.

“Those are the two areas I commend the government,” said Saadatu Falila Hamu, a specialist anti-corruption lawyer based in Abuja.

“But despite this, the government has focused their fight against corruption on people of the opposing political parties.” Hamu also faulted Nigeria’s main anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for “inefficiency”.

– Oil contracts –

In November, EFCC director Ibrahim Magu boasted having seized the equivalent of $2.3 billion as well as sumptuous villas, jewellery, and cars — but often outside legal procedures.

Buhari has pledged to review all oil exploitation contracts to be renewed after this year. Such an electoral promise “can either lead to total chaos in the industry or lead to sanity”, said analyst Soji Apampa.

Nigeria depends on oil sales for 70 percent of its revenues. In 2013 under president Goodluck Jonathan, the head of the central bank reported a $20 billion shortfall in revenue — a scandal that helped bring about Jonathan’s fall and Buhari’s election in 2015.

Nevertheless, the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, considered a slush fund for successive governments, remains notoriously opaque and Buhari — who is also oil minister — named a close associate to head it.

“Imagine a broken pipeline with all of Nigeria’s resources flowing through it. Instead of fixing the hole, you bring a man with a whip” to deter people from stealing, Apampa said. “We haven’t seen a government with an elaborate plan” to repair the pipeline, he added.

AFP

20, January 2019

Congo-Kinshasa: Top court upholds Tshisekedi presidential election win ⁰

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)

20, January 2019

US: Trump offers deal to end government shutdown despite rejection by Dems ⁰

US President Donald Trump has offered a deal to end the government shutdown, linking protection for undocumented immigrants to funding of a border wall, amid immediate rejection by Democratic lawmakers.

Addressing the nation on Saturday in a televised speech from the White House, Trump outlined a plan that would extend temporary protections for young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children — known as Dreamers — and individuals from some Central American and African nations, in exchange for $5.7 billion funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border.

“Both sides in Washington must simply come together, listen to each other, put down their armor, build trust, reach across the aisle and find solutions,” Trump proclaimed, but then insisted, “A wall is not immoral. The radical left can never control our borders. I will never let that happen.”

He further added, “As a candidate for president, I promised I would fix this crisis, and I intend to keep that promise one way or the other.”

According to local press reports, Trump’s deal would extend protections for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program recipients for three years and a three-year extension of protections for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders in exchange for the partial border wall funding.

Democrats, however, quickly rejected the deal, with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York emphasizing that Trump’s offering some protections for DACA and TPS recipients “in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but more hostage taking.”

File photo of US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Photo by AFP)

Schumer further accused the US president of “putting forward one-sided and ineffective remedies,” adding, “There’s only way out: open up the government, Mr. President, and then Democrats and Republicans can have a civil discussion and come up with bipartisan solutions.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi further described Trump’s proposal as a “non-starter” in a statement released shortly before his nationally-televised speech, insisting that the deal could not pass the House of Representative.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) answers questions during her weekly press conference January 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

“Democrats were hopeful that the president was finally willing to re-open government and proceed with a much-need discussion to protect the border. … It is unlikely that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken together, they are a non-starter,” Pelosi further said in her statement.

The development came as tensions are also running high between Trump and Pelosi after she asked him to postpone the annual State of the Union address, slated for January 29. Trump in turn prevented lawmakers from using military aircraft for congressional trips, including for Pelosi’s planned visit to the war-torn Afghanistan this week.

PressTV-Tensions rising between Trump, Pelosi over shutdown

This is while two congressional aides cited in local press reports also pointed out that Democratic leadership was not consulted on the forthcoming White House proposal, further noting that Democrats had previously rejected similar ideas.

“Similar inadequate offers from the Administration were already rejected by Democrats. The BRIDGE Act does not fully protect Dreamers and is not a permanent solution,” said a senior House Democratic aide.

“This is not a compromise as it includes the same wasteful, ineffective $5.7 billion wall demand that shut down the government in the first place,” the aide added.

Trump also underlined in his speech that he was making his pitch to “break the logjam” that has paralyzed Washington since late December, leaving roughly a quarter of the government closed and forcing roughly 800,000 federal employees be furloughed or work without pay.

The partial government shutdown, which marks the longest lapse in funding in modern US history, is currently in its 29th day as the stalemate over the funding of the border wall persists.

Meanwhile, several recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans blame Trump for the partial shutdown after the US president left a meeting earlier this month with Pelosi when the House speaker said she wouldn’t discuss border wall funding even if he reopened the government.

Seeking to make his case during his speech, Trump further seized on his belief that there is a “crisis” along the border requiring “urgent action.”

“Illegal immigration reduces wages and strains public services. The lack of border control provides a gateway, a very wide and open gateway, for criminals and gang members to enter the United States,” he claimed.

Source: Presstv

19, January 2019

International Criminal Court grants prosecution request to keep President Gbagbo in custody ⁰

Ivory Coast ex-president Laurent Gbagbo will stay behind bars at least until a fresh appeal hearing on February 1, despite his acquittal this week by the International Criminal Court, the tribunal said Friday.

Judges cleared 73-year-old Gbagbo on Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity relating to a wave of violence after disputed elections in 2010, and ordered his immediate release. The crisis claimed some 3,000 lives.

But prosecutors at the Hague-based court challenged the release of Gbagbo, who has already spent seven years in jail, saying he should be detained while they make a broader appeal over his acquittal.

“The detention of Mr Laurent Gbagbo… shall be maintained pending the consideration of the present appeal” against his release, the ICC’s appeals judges said in a statement.

They will hold a fresh hearing on February 1 “in order to hear further submissions on the appeal.” Judges made the same order for Gbagbo’s co-defendant and right-hand man Charles Ble Goude.

Prosecutors had argued that there was a “concrete” risk the Ivorian pair fail to return to the ICC if a subsequent appeal overturned Tuesday’s decision to acquit them. Gbagbo’s daughter has said he intended to return to the Ivory Coast if released.

(AFP)

18, January 2019

Brexit: Merkel’s protege to Britain: We will miss you ⁰

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s protégé has appealed to Britain not to leave the European Union (EU) as the clock is ticking down to Brexit in 70 days.

German conservative leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who succeeds Merkel as leader of the Christian Democrats, joined a dozen of German politicians, industrialists and artists, appealing to the UK not to leave the union.

“Britons should know: from the bottom of our hearts, we want them to stay,” said the letter, which was published in The Times newspaper. “Without your great nation, this continent would not be what it is today.”

“Should Britain wish to leave the European Union for good, it will always have friends in Germany and Europe,” it added.

“After the horrors of the Second World War, Britain did not give up on us. It has welcomed Germany back as a sovereign nation and a European power,” said the letter.

The move is considered as a major U-turn in Berlin’s policy after Merkel said earlier this week that there would be “no renegotiation” in a new deal between the union and the UK.

The chancellor will leave power in 2021, with Kramp-Karrenbauer taking over as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany. She warned on Wednesday that “for me, it is clear that there cannot be any renegotiation.”

Merkel made the remarks to the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee immediately after May’s Withdrawal Agreement was historically voted out on Tuesday.

PressTV-May urges party talks after surviving confidence vote

Lawmakers roundly rejected the deeply-contested Brexit deal that May had negotiated with the EU.

The lawmakers, who want either a further referendum or a softer version of the exit, are trying to stop Brexit altogether or to leave without a deal.

The prime minister, who narrowly won a no- confidence vote on Wednesday, called on all parties to “focus on finding a way forward on Brexit.”

The defeat of the departure agreement can lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even a reversal of the 2016 EU referendum, where 52 percent of Britons voted in favor of Brexit.

There are 70 days left before Brexit, but May has not rejected holding talks on extending the negotiating period beyond the current departure date of March 29.

Source: Presstv

18, January 2019

African Union calls on Congo-Kinshasa to delay release of final vote results ⁰

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)