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At UN, Kabila vows ‘peaceful, credible’ DR Congo vote
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Congolese
President Joseph Kabila pledged at the United Nations on Tuesday that
elections planned for December will go ahead, promising to take steps to
ensure the vote is peaceful and credible.
In power for two decades, Kabila this year bowed to international pressure
and agreed to step aside, allowing a new candidate to stand in the December
23 vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Addressing the General Assembly, Kabila said that despite the challenges
of holding elections in his vast country, “I now reaffirm the irreversible
nature of our decision to hold the elections as planned at the end of this
year.”
“Everything will be done in order to ensure that these elections are
peaceful and credible,” said Kabila.
Britain, France and the United States had urged Kabila to state clearly
that he would not seek another term amid fears that his failure to step aside
could trigger violence.
The DR Congo has not known a peaceful transition of power since
independence from Belgium in 1960.
Kabila vowed to “oppose any interference in the electoral process under
way” and said the DR Congo state would cover the full cost of the elections
which has involved a complicated voter registration.
The Security Council is planning to visit the DR Congo before the
elections, possibly in October, as concerns run high over a risk of election
violence.
In his address, Kabila renewed his call for the withdrawal of the UN
peacekeeping mission MONUSCO — the UN’s biggest peace operation with some
17,500 troops and police — from his country.
The vast mineral-rich country is wracked by conflict in the east and
Kabila’s security forces have been accused of resorting to excessive force
against the opposition.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1819 hrs