DRC elections 'will be fair'
2006-07-16 21:45
Kinshasa - A delegation of African
leaders has reassured voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that their upcoming historic
elections will be free and fair.
This despite complaints of
irregularities, which the delegation says are common to new democracies.
The comments from the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) mission came as rallies in Kinshasa underscored the risk
of electoral violence and presidential contenders toured the
volatile provinces of the vast country.
"We all had our first elections and none of our first
elections were 100% OK," South African deputy foreign
minister Aziz Pahad told Reuters on Sunday.
"The delegation feels that despite some remaining challenges
... we think that the conditions are there for the elections to
be free and fair," Pahad said after two days of meetings between
SADC leaders and those organising and taking part in the
elections.
The DRC is two weeks away from its
first free elections in more than 40 years.
The July 30 poll is
the cornerstone of peace deals that officially ended Congo's
last war, a 1998-2003 conflict that killed 4 million people
mostly from hunger and disease.
The vote will take place amid simmering conflict in much of
the DRC's mineral-rich east.
Most candidates challenging President
Joseph Kabila say conditions are neither free nor fair, and the
leading UDPS opposition party has called for a boycott.
Pahad said for the sake of the country, the losers of
the DRC's polls would have to accept the results.
"Like all countries it is incumbent on the winning group to
try and see how you can bring all the forces together so ...
that others have a stake in stability," he said.
Lynch mobs
Kabila was campaigning in Congo's east, where millions will
vote amid the threat of violence by rebels and militia groups
which pillage, rape and kill three years after the peace deal.
Former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, currently one of the DRC's four vice-presidents and amongst the most serious of
Kabila's 32 rivals, spent the weekend campaigning in the central
province of Maniema and copper-rich Katanga to the south.
The two areas are Kabila strongholds, but Bemba said all
parties - not just the president - should be credited for ending
Congo's war. He also warned of potential electoral fraud.
Rival rallies in Kinshasa on Saturday underscored the
volatility of the polls.
A group of young men entered a
stadium and threw stones at thousands of supporters of Oscar
Kashala, a Harvard-trained doctor running for the presidency.
"They were sent here by Kabila's party next door. They came
to try and disturb our meeting," screamed Kashala supporter
Jean-Pierre.
"If we have to kill them, we will."
Four of the stone throwers had to be rescued from a mob
trying to lynch them and were tied up to the stage.
Police were
chased away by the angry crowd that cheered as buses full of
supporters raced around the running track.
Kashala has emerged from relative obscurity after the arrest
in May of more than 30 of his employees, briefly detained by the
government on charges of attempting to overthrow the state.
Since then, he says the government has tried to stop his
campaign by blocking election material and harassing supporters.
"All this shows that there is no security in the country and
we should do everything to ensure that all Congolese feels safe
in their own country - as soon as we are in power," he told
some 10 000 cheering supporters.