DRC votes on polls ground rules
2006-08-31 11:12
Kinshasa - Opposing camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo discussed on Wednesday in a United Nations-brokered meeting ground rules for the second round of presidential elections in the wake of recent violence, said the UN.
Representatives from President Joseph Kabila and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba met at the offices of the UN mission in the DRC, known as Monuc, in their first meeting since clashes had killed 23 in Kinshasa on August 20-22.
William Swing, special representative of the UN secretary-general in the DRC, supervised the meeting.
A Monuc official said: "We have a lot of work to do", saying that all areas would be covered, which included the function of the media, the billeting of troops and security guarantees.
Kabila got 44.8% votes
A separate meeting was due to take place on Wednesday afternoon to look into the clashes, which came hours after provisional results from a first round of voting gave Kabila 44.8% of votes ahead of Bemba with 20%.
A run-off vote had been set for October 29.
Swing said that although Kabila and Bemba were yet to come together face to face, the meetings were a sign of thawing relations between the two sides and were being held in a "constructive atmosphere".
A spokesperson from his PALU party said that Antoine Gizenga, who came third in the first round, held separate meetings with both Bemba and Kabila on Wednesday.
Deputy spokesperson Jean-Tobie Okala said that regarding the UN's enquiry into ammunition shipments earlier this month in Kinshasa, Monuc on Wednesday asked the head of the DRC army to reveal the whereabouts of its ammunition depots and the quantities held.
$46m needed for elections
According to several Western military sources, at least part of the delivery had been destined for the presidential guard, and there had also been deliveries of weapons to Bemba's faction.
A Western military officer said: "Last weekend, we observed movements of canoes containing men and boxes on Congo River", which separates the DRC from neighbouring Congo.
According to several other sources, including diplomatic and police sources, cases of ammunition arrived at the beginning of the week at private land belonging to Bemba's family, near Ndolo military airport in east-central Kinshasa.
Also on Wednesday, the Independent Electoral Commission said it was lacking $46m in election funding.
CEI official Dieudonne Mirimo said: "But, we have had a commitment for $10m from various countries including Belgium and Switzerland.
"We think that by October the 29th, we will have the deficit covered."
The original budget for the DRC's historic elections, the first multiparty poll in more than 40 years in a country the size of western Europe devastated by war, was about $450m.