tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post116222531173530873..comments2024-01-21T05:43:02.361-05:00Comments on Pan-African News Wire: Democratic Republic of Congo Election Update: Vote Counting UnderwayPan-African News Wirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-1162398197856926622006-11-01T11:23:00.000-05:002006-11-01T11:23:00.000-05:00Wednesday November 1, 1:06 AM DRCongo: Rivals t...Wednesday November 1, 1:06 AM <BR/>DRCongo: Rivals trade barbs as vote counting starts<BR/> <BR/> <BR/>AFP Photo<BR/> <BR/> <BR/>Ballot counting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has started in an atmosphere of mutual recriminations as Jean-Pierre Bemba accused his rival in the run-off presidential election, incumbent Joseph Kabila, of large-scale fraud.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, however, the independent South African Observer Mission concluded that the historic vote -- which will select the country's first democratically elected president in more than four decades -- was "peaceful, credible and transparent."<BR/><BR/>The observer mission said that it "did not observe any major incidents or irregularities with the voting process."<BR/><BR/>A spokesman for Bemba nonetheless Tuesday accused the president of attempting to steal the elections.<BR/><BR/>"We have noted several attempts of massive fraud," said Fancois Muamba, coordinator of Bemba's Union for the Nation, alleging that Kabila's operatives had used fake voter registration cards, rigged ballots, and cash payments for votes.<BR/><BR/>"We will remain very vigilant to prevent these abnormalities from influencing the outcome," he said.<BR/><BR/>The spokesman for Kabila's Alliance of the Presidential Majority, Olivier Kamitatu, dismissed the accusations as "inopportune statements" made in a bid to preempt the outcome and "escape the truth of the ballot box."<BR/><BR/>The country's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), in the meantime, denounced all proclamations about the results of the vote, which are scheduled to be announced sometime before November 19.<BR/><BR/>"The IEC is concerned by the false and premature statements on the results," the Commission's president, Apollinaire Malu Malu said. "It denounces even more vigorously the disregard of the good conduct rules which the candidates pledged to uphold."<BR/><BR/>Gathering and counting the ballots in a country almost the size of western Europe would be a daunting under the best of circumstances, but is made even more complex by poor infrastructure, regional insurgencies and deep-seated corruption, observers say. <BR/><BR/>More than 25 million citizens were registered to vote.<BR/><BR/>The announcement of first-round results in August sparked violent clashes -- including heavy artillery fire -- in Kinshasa between the presidential guard and troops loyal to Bemba, leaving 23 dead.<BR/><BR/>International monitors fearing a similar eruption pressured both candidates into pledging not to resort to violence and calling on their supporters to do the same.<BR/><BR/>One election monitor who said he had "seen some irregularities but no fraud" in the vote, said the ballot counting process would be critical. "If the gap between the candidates is small, every vote will count," he said.<BR/><BR/>Seemingly willing to wait for the official tally, both camps have begun to count or estimate vote totals. <BR/><BR/>"Everyone is very busy compiling their own results. But as soon as they think they have an idea of the outcome, there is a risk that tensions will mount," said one diplomat based in Kinshasa.<BR/><BR/>Various estimates are already making the rounds, often via mobile phone text messages, announcing victory for one candidate or the other. <BR/><BR/>"Nobody has any idea of the result. The voter turnout was weaker than in the first round, but differs from region to region,"<BR/>said another diplomat. "We don't have any idea about rural area, and only a vague notion for the cities -- it is way too soon to predict."<BR/><BR/>The voting on Sunday went smoothly, international monitors said, marred only by a few incidents. In the most serious, two voting station workers were killed early Monday morning by a drunken soldier after the polls closed in a town near Bunia, the regional capital of Ituri.<BR/><BR/>Following another incident, some voters in the northwest province of Equateur were to cast ballots anew on Tuesday in Bumba after a dozen voting stations were ransacked when voters uncovered an alleged attempt to defraud the vote in favor of Kabila. Malu Malu indicated that polling stations there will open Wednesday for a fresh vote.<BR/><BR/>Kabila, who took office in 2001 and is Africa's youngest head of state at 35, took 44.8 percent of the first round votes.<BR/><BR/>A wealthy businessman and former rebel who is now a vice-president in the Democratic Republic of Congo's transitional regime, Jean-Pierre Bemba scored 20 percent in the first round.Pan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-1162397615709692942006-11-01T11:13:00.000-05:002006-11-01T11:13:00.000-05:00Congo Government Welcomes U.S. Sanctions By HEIDI ...Congo Government Welcomes U.S. Sanctions <BR/><BR/>By HEIDI VOGT, <BR/>Associated Press Writer<BR/>Wednesday, November 1, 2006 <BR/><BR/>(11-01) 04:51 PST KINSHASA, Congo (AP)--Congo's government on Wednesday welcomed a decision by the United States to impose sanctions on seven warlords and businessmen who are accused of fueling instability in this vast country's lawless east.<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, a revote in the northeast town of Fataki was postponed for a day to allow more time to organize it, electoral officials said. Rioters had destroyed ballots from Congo's landmark presidential runoff in the town earlier this week.<BR/><BR/>President Bush issued the sanctions in an executive order Tuesday, freezing the assets of the seven warlords and businessmen and barring Americans from doing business with them. The seven are accused of violating international laws involving targeting of children or violating a ban on sales of military equipment to Congo.<BR/><BR/>It was not immediately known what assets the group had in the United States, if any.<BR/><BR/>Congo government spokesman Henri Mova Sakanyi said he did not expect the sanctions to affect the counting from Congo's tense runoff election, which pitted incumbent Joseph Kabila against Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former warlord who was made vice president in the power-sharing administration.<BR/><BR/>"It's a good thing for us that the international community is beginning to sanction those who financed the war," Sakanyi told The Associated Press in the capital, Kinshasa. "Without help from outside, the war wouldn't have lasted as long."<BR/><BR/>Congo is struggling to recover from decades of dictatorship and a 1998-2002 war that divided the country into rival fiefdoms and drew in the armies of half a dozen African nations, many of which were accused of plundering the country's mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold and copper.<BR/><BR/>Huge tracts of the east remain chaotic despite the presence of more than 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers deployed in Congo to bolster security.<BR/><BR/>Those targeted by the White House sanctions include Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda, 49, who operates a private fiefdom in Congo's eastern Masisi territory and claims the loyalty of thousands of army troops. His forces have been accused of torture and rape and he has been named in an international arrest warrant for war crimes.<BR/><BR/>Among those also named were Rwandan militia leader Ignace Murwanashyaka and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, an infamous figure who has allegedly trafficked weapons to Central and West Africa since the early 1990s.<BR/><BR/>Congo's presidential runoff went off peacefully Sunday in most of the country, though one-day revotes were required in two towns after rioting mobs destroyed ballots and polling stations.<BR/><BR/>The first revote was held in the northern town of Bumba on Tuesday. The second was to be held Wednesday in Fataki, in northeast Ituri province, but local electoral official John Ukunya said it had been delayed until Thursday to allow time to fly in new voting materials and inform voters the ballot would be held again.<BR/><BR/>Hundreds rioted in Fataki on Monday after an apparently drunken soldier shot and killed two election workers. The ensuing violence destroyed nine voting centers.<BR/><BR/>Overall results are not expected for days or weeks. The electoral commission has said it will publish provisional results by Nov. 19.<BR/><BR/>The election is the climax of a four-year transition process aiming to bring democratic rule to Congo for the first time since its independence from Belgium in 1960.<BR/><BR/>URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgifile=/n/a/2006/11/01/international/i045157S78.DTLPan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.com