More cash offered for DRC poll
2006-09-06 19:37
European donors have offered more than $30m (about R215m) in extra funding for the Democratic Republic of Congo's elections as the vast African nation prepares for crucial votes to chose a president and parliament, said a senior United Nations official on Wednesday.
Ross Mountain, the UN's deputy special representative, said the European Commission, Belgium, Sweden, Britain and Switzerland had stepped forward following an appeal from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for more funding.
Mountain told reporters that $10m (about R71m) was still needed, but said he was "optimistic that others will respond to the secretary general's request".
The European Commission said on Monday it was providing an extra $20.5m (about R147m).
Mountain was in Brussels for talks with EU and Belgian officials.
Following a first-round presidential vote in July, President Joseph Kabila will face his nearest rival, former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, in an October 29 run-off.
Measures to defuse tension
Armed supporters of the two men clashed in Kinshasa after the first-round results were published.
Mountain said the UN was working on a series of confidence-building measures to defuse tension between the two candidates, and hoped to organize a meeting between them.
He stressed that the election of a democratic parliament would likely ensure that the losing presidential candidate would still have a stake in the country's new political system.
"Both of them will have a parliamentary group," he said.
"It should not be seen as winner take all."
- SAPA