Tension is greatest in DRC!

Democratic Republic of Congo had not organized poll since the Civil War (1998-2003), where there was five million deaths, and had the intention to bring back stability inside the country. So, the pending makes all people nervous about the final result. However, the Céni’s announce (the electoral commission) doesn't seem totally correct.

Friday night, many people are watching their TV and are impatient to finally know the result of the vote. The electoral commission finally gives the victory to the President Kabila, since 2006, with 49 % against 32 % to his principal opponent, Etienne Tshisekedi. This one, called “Sphinx from Limete” (the Tshisekedi’s political fief and natal city) rejects this result and proclaimed himself as the new president of the DRC. By this action, the Kabila's spokesman commented it like an “infraction to the law” and “the Constitution”.

In addition, violence takes place in Kinshasa, the capital, some hours later. The security forces tried to keep the citizen safe in around it, and others cities of the country. The chief of the police, the General Charles Bisengimana, counts four persons killed by bullets. According him, there are “three looters” and a woman because a “lost bullet”. Even in Brussels, the former colonial power, the proponents demonstrating for Theshekedi are become a chaos. Same in London, where 143 people shouted their disagreement against the Joseph Kabila’s victory has been arrested after the beginning of violence and aggressions. France also has many Congolese (300 people) who made a march on Champs Elysees and blocked traffic.

Saturday, the voters in favor of Tshisekedi continued to show their wrath about elections. Their leader announced his own score from the poll: fifty four per cent to him, against twenty six to Kabila. This provisional looser, because nothing is safe for now, accuses a fake vote and want his people  “stick together” behind him with the intention to staying patient for “future events”. He wishes a help from the international community to the Congolese for a “research in the crisis settlement”.

Céni has invited a humanitarian organization, Carter Center, to verify results and ballots. This association has been created by a former President of United States, Jimmy Carter, and is based in Atlanta. And according to 70 observers from Carter Center found “big mistakes” inside the structure of the counting of votes. In fact, a lot of errors were made. Inside the capital, approximately 2,000 results of vote's offices were lost (representing 350,000 voters) and they won’t be ever counted. Moreover, Carter Center gives an example from poll system's failure: region Malemba-Nkulu,where all the ballots were supposed to have been counted, the participation rate was 99,46 % and Mister Kabila has 100 % of the vote. In other offices, Kabila harvest 100 %. Carter Center commented, saying that's not possible all people wanted the same president (whereas there were eleven members to the elections) but “bad managements of the process of collection and compilation” doesn’t change necessarily the order of the candidates’ results, announced by Céni. Monday, Kabila admitted possible “errors” in the verification in the votes.

Sunday, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Juppé, said to some French media that’s an “explosive situation” and nobody could know “how the elections were conducted”. He adds: “What we have done for weeks is to get the same message to Kabila’s partisans and to Tshiekedi’s partisans: don’t use violence, find a way by the dialog”. But, in noting the degenerative demonstration in the world: “Unfortunately, we are still listened at the moment…” The French diplomat encourages “the African Union and all regional organizations to accentuate the pressure on Congolese political actors”.

However the calm seems to return for Sunday, according to the police the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The general secretary of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, asked “that all disputes, concerning provisory results of the elections, shall be resolved peacefully via the legal mechanisms and existing mediations”. In fact, he suggested intervention by the Supreme Court, where all candidates had to deposit a “request for a recount”, which ended Monday. Yet, Tshisekedi claims that the Supreme Court is “a private institution of Mister Kabila”, and a member from his party maintains, fearing a second electoral victory to the president remains in power, they probably will call to days of protest or movements of “dead cities”. Anyway, the Supreme Court will proclaim the official winner on December 17.