Respect new timetable - UN

2005-06-30 09:27

New York - The United Nations (UN) security council urged Congo's political parties to accept a recent decision extending the mandate of the country's post-war transitional government by six months.

The council said in a statement on Wednesday the decision would allow long-awaited presidential elections to take place in "satisfactory logistic and security conditions". The vote is now set for March 2006.

Elections were initially scheduled for June 30, but poor planning and legislative foot-dragging delayed the vote, and authorities then hoped they would take place later this year.

A transitional government was established in 2003 following peace deals that ended the nation's devastating five-year war. The transition period was to end this month, but the agreement allows for two, six-month-long extensions.

The council statement called on the transitional government and parties to respect the new timetable and begin preparing for a referendum on a draft constitution quickly. Details of the country's new electoral laws will be approved during that vote, which is set for November 27.

The presidential election in March will be the first nationwide presidential vote since the country gained independence from Belgium in 1960.

The transitional government was established in 2003 at the end of Congo's devastating five-year war that sucked in six African armies and killed nearly four million people, mostly from hunger and sickness, aid groups say.

- AP