tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post115418221150432776..comments2024-03-24T20:40:46.666-04:00Comments on Pan-African News Wire: Long Live the Democratic Republic of Congo!Pan-African News Wirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-1154407939603408852006-08-01T00:52:00.000-04:002006-08-01T00:52:00.000-04:00Kabila looks set for Congo victory By Steve Bloomf...Kabila looks set for Congo victory <BR/><BR/>By Steve Bloomfield in Goma, North Kivu <BR/>Published: 01 August 2006 <BR/><BR/>Joseph Kabila appeared to be heading to victory after Sunday's elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The incumbent President swept the eastern regions, picking up more than 80 per cent of the vote in the majority of polling stations in North and South Kivu, according to preliminary results. <BR/><BR/>In Katanga, a province in the south, Mr Kabila was polling at more than 55 per cent. However, in the capital, Kinshasa, Jean Pierre-Bemba, the warlord turned politician, was narrowly topping the polls.<BR/><BR/>Voters, who had turned up in enormous numbers for Sunday's elections - the first in more than 40 years - returned to polling stations yesterday to find out the results, which were pinned up on noticeboards.<BR/><BR/>The slow process of compiling results from more than 50,000 polling stations spread across a country the size of western Europe is expected to last at least two weeks. But already Mr Kabila's supporters have begun celebrating.<BR/><BR/>A second round of voting in the presidential elections was planned for October, but observers believe Mr Kabila may have done enough to win outright.<BR/><BR/>Such a result could trigger fresh fighting in a country wracked by more than a decade of conflict. Both Mr Bemba and another former warlord, Azarias Ruberwa, have said they will not accept the result if there are "irregularities". In the east, the rebel leader Laurent Nkunda is reportedly increasing his recruitment of child soldiers.<BR/><BR/>One international observer said the election may not deliver peace: "This election is going to divide the country. If Kabila wins in the first round, there is a question whether people in Kinshasa will accept it." <BR/><BR/>Joseph Kabila appeared to be heading to victory after Sunday's elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The incumbent President swept the eastern regions, picking up more than 80 per cent of the vote in the majority of polling stations in North and South Kivu, according to preliminary results. <BR/><BR/>In Katanga, a province in the south, Mr Kabila was polling at more than 55 per cent. However, in the capital, Kinshasa, Jean Pierre-Bemba, the warlord turned politician, was narrowly topping the polls.<BR/><BR/>Voters, who had turned up in enormous numbers for Sunday's elections - the first in more than 40 years - returned to polling stations yesterday to find out the results, which were pinned up on noticeboards.<BR/><BR/>The slow process of compiling results from more than 50,000 polling stations spread across a country the size of western Europe is expected to last at least two weeks. But already Mr Kabila's supporters have begun celebrating.<BR/>A second round of voting in the presidential elections was planned for October, but observers believe Mr Kabila may have done enough to win outright.<BR/><BR/>Such a result could trigger fresh fighting in a country wracked by more than a decade of conflict. Both Mr Bemba and another former warlord, Azarias Ruberwa, have said they will not accept the result if there are <BR/>"irregularities".<BR/> <BR/>In the east, the rebel leader Laurent Nkunda is reportedly increasing his recruitment of child soldiers.<BR/><BR/>One international observer said the election may not deliver peace: "This election is going to divide the country. If Kabila wins in the first round, there is a question whether people in Kinshasa will accept it."Pan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-1154405940557650762006-08-01T00:19:00.000-04:002006-08-01T00:19:00.000-04:00Tuesday August 1, 1:45 AM DR Congo rivals happy...Tuesday August 1, 1:45 AM <BR/><BR/>DR Congo rivals happy with historic vote<BR/> <BR/>AFP <BR/> <BR/>Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began a four week wait to see whether President Joseph Kabila has, as predicted, won the former Belgian colony's first free elections since independence in 1960.<BR/><BR/>By late afternoon 60 percent of ballots had been processed but the final count will not be known until August 31 because of the vast size of the DRC and the ravages inflicted by its five-year war.<BR/><BR/>African and European leaders praised the Congolese for voting smoothly and en masse and called on political rivals to respect the outcome in an what is seen as a vital test for democracy.<BR/><BR/>The chief candidates were bitter enemies during the 1998-2003 war and still command massive armed support.<BR/><BR/>"I call on the participants to respect the electoral verdict," African Union chief Alpha Omar Konare said.<BR/><BR/>Kabila and his most serious challenger, rebel-turned-politician Jean-Pierre Bemba, both signalled that so far they saw no reason to cry foul.<BR/><BR/>The electoral commission said voting was extended on Monday in more than 200 districts in the Kasai region, including the diamond mining town of Mbuyi-Maji, where opposition supporters threw stones and torched polling stations at the weekend.<BR/><BR/>Elsewhere in the country voters who have never known democracy had streamed to the polls with enthusiasm on Sunday. <BR/><BR/>The United Nations said the vote was a logistical "miracle", while the European Union said it was "the concrete realisation of a very old dream for the Congolese."<BR/><BR/>The nation will learn the results of the vote for a 500-seat parliament, which took place alongside the presidential poll, within the coming weeks.<BR/><BR/>A second presidential round will take place on October 29 unless Kabila or one of his 32 challengers wins 50 percent of the votes cast on Sunday.<BR/><BR/>At 35, Kabila is Africa's youngest head of state and one that few thought would survive.<BR/><BR/>But he has won over the Congolese and the West by holding together complex peace deals in the aftermath of what the UN dubbed "Africa's World War".<BR/><BR/>It sucked in seven neighbours, claimed millions of lives through combat and war-related suffering, and turned the DRC into a running sore at the centre of the continent.<BR/><BR/>"The people were worn out by this war. There was no way to make money, no schools," teacher Dieudonne Baroki said after voting in the eastern town of Rutshuru.<BR/><BR/>"I trust Kabila because he has tried to bring peace to all the country."<BR/><BR/>A truce was signed on the eve of the vote with one of the rebel groups still active in the east near the border with Rwanda, which is watching the outcome of the vote closely after deposing two leaders in the DRC in the 1990s.<BR/><BR/>Rwandan President Paul Kagame helped rebels first topple Mobutu Sese Seko, a dictator who made the country a byword for corruption, and then Kabila's father, Laurent.<BR/><BR/>The reason was their failure to flush out Hutu killers who were hiding in the eastern DRC after taking part in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.<BR/><BR/>Kabila has managed to make peace with Kagame since he succeeded his assassinated father in 2001.<BR/><BR/>On Sunday, voters in the former Rwandan-controlled eastern capital of Goma stood happily in queues and pored over ballot papers the size of newspapers, bearing hundreds of names and photographs.<BR/><BR/>"This is truly a cause for much joy. I've never voted in my whole life," said Jerome Amza, 45.<BR/><BR/>The international community funded the elections at a cost of almost half a billion dollars and hopes they will not only bring stability to central Africa but also revive the DRC's ruined economy.<BR/><BR/>The country has vast natural wealth that has routinely been plundered by foreigners since it became a Belgian colony in 1908.<BR/><BR/>It became independent in 1960 just after the last free elections.<BR/><BR/>Those were won by Patrice Lumumba, but he was soon deposed by Mobutu, who for the next three decades filtered much of the Congo's wealth into private Swiss bank accounts.<BR/><BR/>After war broke out, diamonds and coltan were freely looted by fighters on all sides while the population sank deeper into dire poverty. Most still live on around one dollar a day.<BR/><BR/><BR/>First results posted in DR Congo <BR/><BR/>Polling stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun posting interim results, after the first multi-party election in 40 years. <BR/><BR/>Full results of Sunday's polls are not expected for weeks. <BR/><BR/>The elections were aimed at ending a long civil war, with 32 candidates, including incumbent Joseph Kabila, contesting the presidency. <BR/><BR/>Over 9,000 candidates stood for parliament. Some 25m voters were protected by 17,000 UN peacekeepers. <BR/><BR/>It is still far from clear whether a second round will be required, or whether a candidate will gain the 50% of the votes needed to win outright, the BBC News website's Joseph Winter reports from Kinshasa. <BR/>----------------------------------------------- <BR/>DR CONGO POLLS <BR/>32 presidential candidates <BR/>9,709 parliamentary candidates <BR/>25.6m voters <BR/>50,000 polling stations <BR/>260,000 electoral staff <BR/>----------------------------------------------- <BR/>The RCD party, led by former rebel and Vice-President Azarias Ruberwa, told our correspondent there had been "widespread fraud". <BR/><BR/>RCD Secretary General Kabasu Babu Katulondi said RCD representatives had been chased out of polling stations when counting started, while ruling PPRD officials had been caught trying to vote more than once. <BR/><BR/>"The delay is one of Kabila's tricks to manipulate the figures," he said. <BR/><BR/>Results from several polling stations seemed to back up pre-election predictions that former rebel leader and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba would win most votes in Kinshasa. <BR/><BR/>However President Kabila was expected to win more votes in eastern DR Congo, where he is credited with ending the war. <BR/><BR/>Thomas Luaka, a spokesman for Mr Bemba's MLC party said that while he "deplored some incidents, overall, the elections went well". <BR/><BR/>Earlier, Mr Bemba's supporters had demonstrated on the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, saying they were cheated. <BR/><BR/>Independent Electoral Commission official Carole Kabanga Kaoy said she could not comment on the allegations of fraud until she had received official reports, at which point each party would be free to provide evidence of irregularities. <BR/><BR/>Mr Kabila, who came to power unelected in 2001, has told the BBC he will accept the result of Sunday's presidential elections, even if he loses. <BR/><BR/>"It would have been the verdict of the people and of course we will definitely accept the verdict of the people," he said. <BR/><BR/>Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and his UDPS party boycotted the vote. <BR/><BR/>There were reports of violence on election day in Mr Tshisekedi's stronghold, the south-eastern Kasai region. <BR/><BR/>But a United Nations official said he was "relieved" and "delighted" with how the voting had gone. <BR/><BR/>"All indications that we have, not just from Kinshasa, but across the country is that the population has responded fairly substantively," UN envoy Ross Mountain said. <BR/><BR/>"The number of incidents have been absolutely minimal. The security hasn't been a problem and it has been an extraordinary day for Congo." <BR/><BR/>BBC world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says the real test of the elections will be the acceptance of the results by all of the former warring parties. <BR/><BR/>The presidential candidates include the four vice-presidents who took office in 2003 in terms of a transitional power-sharing deal. <BR/><BR/>Three of the four vice-presidents are the leaders of former armed factions. <BR/><BR/>Some opposition candidates accuse Mr Kabila of being backed by the international community, and are already unofficially complaining about what they say are irregularities in the voting, our corresponent says. <BR/><BR/>Story from BBC NEWS: <BR/>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/5230224.stm <BR/>Published: 2006/07/31 21:26:55 GMT <BR/><BR/><BR/>Former rebel claims Congo poll lead <BR/><BR/>Reuters <BR/><BR/>KINSHASA - A former Congo rebel leader said on Monday initial results gave him a lead in landmark presidential elections and warned he would not accept defeat by President Joseph Kabila if he felt the process was rigged. <BR/><BR/>Defying calls from election authorities not to predict the results, Jean-Pierre Bemba said that preliminary counts from Sunday's vote compiled by his party's election witnesses showed he held a strong lead in six of Congo's eleven provinces. <BR/><BR/>But counting was still taking place across the vast country the size of western Europe and electoral authorities say they will issue official preliminary results within three weeks. <BR/><BR/>The ballot was the Democratic Republic of Congo's first free elections in more than 40 years. The polls are meant to cement peace after a brutal 1998-2003 war which killed 4 million people, but complaints of some irregularities by Bemba and another ex-rebel have raised fears of a political crisis. <BR/><BR/>Asked what percentage of the vote he thought he had won, Bemba told foreign journalists: "40 to 45 percent, or perhaps as high as 51 percent. Kabila, for me, he will not exceed 40 percent." <BR/><BR/>Kabila, who took power in the former Belgian colony after the assassination of his father Laurent in 2001, is regarded as favorite to win. His spokesman said Bemba should respect the Independent Electoral Council's right to announce results. <BR/><BR/>"The trend we have for now is that we're winning but we are waiting for the results. We are playing by the rules," presidential spokesman Kudura Kasongo told Reuters. <BR/><BR/>If no-one gains more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round will be held on October 29. Bemba, who has served as vice president in Kabila's transition government under a 2003 peace deal, said he expected to take part in any second round. <BR/><BR/>Asked what would happen if he did not, Bemba said: "That would be terrible for the country ... No nation can accept a vote being stolen." <BR/><BR/>"The unity of this country is so fragile. Don't add more reason for people to say 'I am not going to accept this government'. That is why I insist on transparency," he said. <BR/><BR/>WARNING TO BAD LOSERS <BR/><BR/>Earlier on Monday, international figures urged the presidential candidates to accept the outcome of the elections, which they praised as an example to Africa. <BR/><BR/>U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, the highest ranking foreign official to witness the polls, sent a clear message that the international community would not allow disgruntled losers to derail the election. <BR/><BR/>"The international community is united," Frazer told Reuters in an interview. "If the point is 'I didn't get enough votes, therefore it's not legitimate', then the regional leaders, the African Union leaders, will weigh in." <BR/><BR/>Senior African statesmen, grouped in an International Committee of Elders, said the massive turnout and mostly peaceful voting were an indication the Congolese wanted peace, despite pre-election fears of violence. <BR/><BR/>"This has made the Congolese an example for African elections," the head of the committee, ex-Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, told a news conference.<BR/>"There must be no recourse to violence, we must (have) dialogue, dialogue, dialogue." <BR/><BR/>Faced with organizing a vote in a huge country that lacks basic infrastructure, the international community invested $450 million in the polls. <BR/><BR/>Twenty-five million Congolese were eligible to vote under the watchful gaze of 17,000 U.N. troops, the world's biggest peacekeeping mission. <BR/><BR/>International observers noted some localized violence, particularly in southern Kasai provinces, a stronghold of the opposition UDPS party which boycotted the polls. <BR/><BR/>Voting continued on Monday in more than 200 polling stations in Mbuji Mayi and Mweka, towns in south-central Congo, to cover areas where violence prevented polling on Sunday. <BR/><BR/>That represented just a tiny portion of the 50,000 polling booths used during Sunday's election.Pan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.com