Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has won the run-off elections.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire Photo File.
DRC court to announce ruling on Bemba challenge Monday
DR Congo's Supreme Court will announce its ruling in failed presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba's challenge to the election results Monday, presiding judge Kalonda Kele said.
The court has been examining Bemba's legal challenge to the presidential elections since November 20 after the independent election commission declared the incumbent president the winner with 58.05 percent of votes in the second round.
Bemba's communications director, Moise Musangana, alleged last week that ballot boxes had been stuffed, turnout figures inflated in President Joseph Kabila strongholds and the overall results falsified.
Musangana also said Kabila's campaign had been given preferential treatment during the run-up to the vote and observers had been turned away from polling stations on the day.
State Prosecutor Joseph Mushagalusha had asked the court to reject Bemba's claims as unfounded and to confirm the election commission's provisional results.
Judge Kele said the court ruling would be announced Monday at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT).
Lawyers for Bemba walked out of the Supreme Court earlier Saturday.
Bemba's legal team lodged an objection to the Supreme Court, saying there was a "doubt of its impartiality and integrity."
After a short recess, the court overruled the objection and Bemba's lawyers walked out, furious. "It is not up to the judges to overrule an objection made against themselves," the lead lawyer Jean-Marie Tshibangu told AFP.
"This is a legal con, it's a farce," another of the vice president's lawyers said. The team went back to court after consultation with their client, Tshibangu said.
From Tuesday to Thursday, the court sessions had been in recess after Bemba supporters looted and torched the court rooms. The sessions resumed under high security on Friday in the foreign ministry.
State Prosecutor Mushagalusha accused the protesting lawyers of having "no goal except slowing down the proceedings."
The election results will be officially announced next week.
Meanwhile in the restive eastern province of Nord-Kivu, three soldiers with the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) were killed Saturday in a rebel attack with heavy weapons at Sake, military sources said.
The attack was the first wide-ranging offensive launched in months by loyalists of Laurent Nkunda, a dissident Congolese general of the Tutsi tribe. Three soldiers of FARDC's 11th Brigade were killed and 19 people were injured, including three civilians, in the fighting, said staff at a hospital in Goma, the main town in Nord-Kivu.
The victims, who mainly suffered from bullet and mortar shell wounds, were transported to Goma by the UN mission in DRC (MONUC).
Several of the 11th Brigade's positions were temporarily taken on Saturday at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) with attacks using machine gun fire, rockets and mortars, DRC military and UN sources confirmed.
The most intense fighting was over by late morning, Major Ajay Dalal, MONUC spokesperson in Nord-Kivu, told AFP.
"There were still some shots, but calm was mostly restored," he said. "All of the 11th Brigades's positions are under control," he said, adding that the assailants had "started to pull out again" towards the northwest.
Nkunda, who is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity while his men briefly controlled the eastern city of Bukavu in 2004, is holed up in the mountains northwest of Sake with a force of about 2,000 men, according to Congolese military sources.
Nkunda said in late September that he would not disrupt the DRC elections but warned that he would oppose "with force" any deployment of new brigades in the territory under his control and would defend his Congolese Tutsi "brothers" if they were
"threatened."
More than 2,000 FARDC soldiers have been engaged in combat and MONUC sent 1,000 soldiers on Saturday morning to secure the Sake and Goma areas, the UN said.
The United Nations said on Saturday that between 15,000-20,000 people had been displaced by the fighting.
"According to the army, Sake and the surrounding area are empty," Andrew Zadel from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nord-Kivu told AFP.
In the capital Kinshasa tension remained between rival factions who have resorted to post-election violence that has killed 30.
For the third consecutive day, a small group of Bemba's 1,000-strong military protection force left Kinshasa for Maluku, 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the east.
On Wednesday, the interior minister, General Denis Kalume, asked Bemba to "neutralise" the elements he described as
"uncontrollable" within his protection force who have been implicated in some of the violence since polling started in August.
On Saturday, 32 of Bemba's soldiers left the capital, a Congolese officer told AFP, bringing the total redeployed to Maluku to 85 since Thursday.
Despite concerns over tension between the Kabila and Bemba supporters, the situation in the capital remained peaceful on Saturday.
Sunday November 26, 6:02 AM
DRC supreme court disrupted, clashes in east
Lawyers for the Democratic Republic of Congo's failed presidential candidate, Jean-Pierre Bemba, walked out of the Supreme Court, hours before judges were due to rule on his challenge to the election results.
Bemba's legal team lodged an objection to the Supreme Court, saying there was a "doubt of its impartiality and integrity."
After a short recess, the court overruled the objection and Bemba's lawyers walked out, furious. "It is not up to the judges to overrule an objection made against themselves," the lead lawyer Jean-Marie Tshibangu told AFP.
"This is a legal con, it's a farce," another of the vice-president's lawyers said. The team went back to court after consultation with their client, Tshibangu said.
The Supreme Court has been examining Bemba's legal challenge to the presidential elections since Monday. The independent election commission (CEI) declared the incumbent president the winner with 58.05 percent of votes in the second round.
From Tuesday to Thursday, the sessions were in recess after Bemba supporters looted and torched the court rooms. The sessions resumed under high security on Friday in the foreign ministry.
State Prosecutor Joseph Mushagalusha accused the protesting lawyers of having "no goal except slowing down the proceedings."
As the country waited for Saturday's verdict on Bemba's challenge, followed by the official declaration of results next week, the strain showed in Kinshasa and the east of the republic.
Three soldiers with the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) were killed Saturday in a rebel attack with heavy weapons at Sake in the restive eastern province of Nord-Kivu, military sources said.
The attack was the first wide-ranging offensive launched in months by loyalists of Laurent Nkunda, a dissident Congolese general of the Tutsi tribe. Three soldiers of FARDC's 11th Brigade were killed and 19 people were injured, including three civilians, in the fighting, said staff at a hospital in Goma, the main town in Nord-Kivu.
The victims, mainly suffered from bullet and mortar shell wounds, were transported to Goma by the UN mission in DRC (MONUC).
Several of the 11th Brigade's positions were temporarily taken on Saturday at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) with attacks using machine gun fire, rockets and mortars, DRC military and UN sources confirmed.
The most intense fighting was over by late morning, Major Ajay Dalal, MONUC spokesperson in Nord-Kivu, told AFP.
"There were still some shots, but calm was mostly restored," he said. "All of the 11th Brigades's positions are under control," he said, adding that the assailants had "started to pull out again" towards the northwest.
Nkunda, who is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity while his men briefly controlled the eastern city of Bukavu in 2004, is holed up in the mountains northwest of Sake with a force of about 2,000 men, according to Congolese military sources.
Nkunda said in late September that he would not disrupt the DRC elections but warned that he would oppose "with force" any deployment of new brigades in the territory under his control and would defend his Congolese Tutsi "brothers" if they were
"threatened."
More than 2,000 FARDC soldiers have been engaged in combat and MONUC sent 1,000 soldiers on Saturday morning to secure the Sake and Goma areas, the UN said.
The United Nations said on Saturday that between 15,000-20,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
"According to the army, Sake and the surrounding area are empty," Andrew Zadel from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nord-Kivu told AFP.
In the capital Kinshasa tension remained between rival factions who have resorted to post-election violence that has killed 30.
For the third consecutive day, a small group of Bemba's 1,000-strong military protection force left Kinshasa for Maluku, 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the east.
On Wednesday, the interior minister, General Denis Kalume, asked Bemba to "neutralise" the elements he described as "uncontrollable" within his protection force who have been implicated in some of the violence since polling started in August.
On Saturday, 32 of Bemba's soldiers left the capital, a Congolese officer told AFP, bringing the total redeployed to Maluku to 85 since Thursday.
Despite concerns over tension between the Kabila and Bemba supporters, the situation in the capital remained peaceful on Saturday.
Saturday November 25, 6:39 PM
Two soldiers killed in rebel attacks in eastern DRC
At least two soldiers with the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been killed in a rebel attack in the restive eastern province of Nord-Kivu, military sources said.
"We have two dead... There are some wounded, I don't know how many," a Congolese army officer told AFP by phone from Sake, where he said the fighting was continuing.
He said the attackers were loyalists of Laurent Nkunda, a dissident Congolese general of the Tutsi tribe.
A military spokesman for the UN mission, MONUC, in nearby Goma, the region's main city, said attack helicopters were sent to help the Congolese forces.
"We are working to contain this situation in the Sake area, " said Major Ajay Dalal. "Patrols and vehicles took position around Goma to secure the place."
Nkunda, who is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity while his men briefly controlled the eastern city of Bukavu in 2004, is holed up in the mountains northwest of Sake with a force of about 2,000 men, according to Congolese military sources.
Nkunda said in late September that he would not disrupt the DRC elections but warned that he would oppose "with force" any deployment of new brigades in the territory under his control and would defend his Congolese Tutsi "brothers" if they were "threatened".
The battle in Sake marks the most intense fighting in eastern DRC in a month and comes amid tensions in the capital Kinshasa which has been the scene of post-election violence between rival factions.
The country is waiting for the Supreme Court's decision after Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba contested the results of the October 29 run-off presidential vote, which gave the victory to his opponent, incumbent President Joseph Kabila.
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