DRC 'could slide into violence'
2005-10-19 15:01
Nairobi - Elections set for March in the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could spark "mass violence" if current conditions in vast central African state persist, an influential policy group warned on Wednesday.
It said that a lack of laws guaranteeing free and fair polls, good governance as well as a failure to integrate the army and disarm a plethora of rebel groups posed a risky cocktail for successful polls, the DRC's first in 40 years.
The Brussels-based Crisis Group (CG) said failure to address the issues could plunge the nation into another cycle of bloody violence, urging the international community to pressure Kinshasa to end the status quo.
Status quo
It said: "There are reasonable grounds for fearing electoral manipulation and even relapse into mass violence that would put at severe risk both the unity of the DRC and the stability of much of the continent."
CG analyst Jason Stearns said: "The greatest risk ...is that the status quo is maintained, Congo will have elections, not much will change and five years later fighting will break out because the root causes of the war were not addressed."
At least 60% of the targeted 28 million voters had so far been registered for next year's presidential, legislative and local elections in the DRC that were hoped to return stability to the country after a devastating five-year war.
The CG said, but corruption and mismanagement among government officials, lack of a competent justice system, violence - mainly in the volatile eastern region - and a failure by the UN Mission (Monuc) to enforce an arms embargo were major drawbacks to the process.
Inadequate, irregular payment
The report said: "Extensive embezzlement has resulted in inadequate and irregular payment of civil servants and soldiers, making the state perhaps the largest security threat to the Congolese people."
In the document released here entitled A Congo Action Plan, the group noted that despite small successes, voter registration had been hampered by lack of funds and logistical problems, prompting an indefinite extension of the process that could force postponement of a November 20 constitutional referendum.
The report said: "Such a delay could cause a crisis for a government whose people already see it as inefficient and corrupt."
The Crisis Group had recently changed its name, dropping an I for international in what was better known previously as the ICG.