DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Congo's Jean Pierre Bemba vows to fight on

Congolese former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba said on Tuesday (November 28) he would go into political opposition after his presidential election defeat "to preserve peace and save the country from chaos and violence". Bemba, wearing a business suit in a broadcast on his TV channel, said he stood by his complaints against President Joseph Kabila's victory in last month's poll, which were rejected on Monday by the Supreme Court. "However, in the higher interests of the nation, to preserve peace and save the country from chaos and violence, today I pledge before God, the nation and history to lead ... this struggle for change as part of a strong republican opposition," he said. Bemba had alleged "systematic cheating" in the poll count that gave him 41.95 percent of the vote and 58.05 for Kabila. Diplomats and analysts had feared Monday's court decision might trigger further violence after soldiers loyal to the two presidential contenders fought bloody battles on the streets of the capital Kinshasa in August and again a fortnight ago. The October 29 presidential run-off was the culmination of a peace process ending a 1998-2003 war which devastated the country, triggering a humanitarian disaster that has killed 4 million people and continues to kill 1,200 every day through violence, hunger and disease. Heavily-armed soldiers and policemen, as well as United Nations peacekeepers, patrolled the streets of Kinshasa on Tuesday, where Bemba has widespread support in the city's teeming slums whose residents mostly speak his Lingala tongue.

ITN Source | November 29, 2006

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