GoG News: Congo-Kinshasa: Securing Congo's Elections - Lessons from the Kinshasa Showdown
International Crisis Group (Brussels)
PRESS RELEASE
October 2, 2006
Posted to the web October 2, 2006
Nairobi/Brussels
The Congolese government and the international community must move quickly to secure the run-off presidential election between Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba on 29 October 2006.
Securing Congo's Elections: Lessons from the Kinshasa Showdown,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, analyses especially the situation on the ground in the capital, which events after the first round demonstrated is the most sensitive point in the country. Both Kabila and Bemba will be strongly tempted to use violence should they lose the second round, and the former in particular is very strong militarily.
"The violence on the afternoon of 20 August, several hours before the electoral commission was due to announce the presidential results, provided dramatic proof of the fragility of the electoral process in the DR Congo", says Crisis Group Senior Analyst Jason Stearns.
Around 18 million Congolese went to the polls on 30 July to choose a new president and national assembly, the first free and fair elections in over 40 years. The vote was largely peaceful and well organised, although many irregularities were reported at polling stations. The incumbent Kabila won 45 per cent, just short of an absolute majority. Bemba received 20 per cent. Kabila's Alliance for Presidential Majority took some 300 of the 500 seats in the national assembly; Bemba's Union of Nationalists won 116.
To secure Kinshasa throughout the electoral period and after, Congolese military, and particularly the private guards of Kabila and Bemba, which are not part of the army's regular command structure, must be kept off the streets. Heavy weaponry must be put under control of the UN mission (MONUC) and the European Union mission (EUFOR). EUFOR needs to deploy more troops to the capital from its reserve base in Gabon and give them clear authority to use force to prevent violence, and Brussels should extend this troop deployment until the new government takes office in January 2007.
It is also important for the international community to promote a climate of constructive criticism by strengthening the High Media Authority in order to prevent hate speech and defamation in press, television and radio outlets which are often de facto allies of the candidates and have helped stoke violence in the capital. Finally, weaknesses in the electoral process, especially those related to collection and reporting of ballots, must be urgently corrected to make sure the run-off is seen by Congolese as fair and transparent.
"The Congo's stability is at stake", says Caty Clement, Crisis Group's Central Africa Project Director. "Elections, including those for provincial parliaments which will also be held on 29 October, are the first step. But real stability will come only when democratic institutions such as courts, media and parliament are given real clout and laws are enforced. Congolese will measure the peace dividend by these changes".
