DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Authorities say false results rumours could endanger poll

Congolese authorities expressed concern on Tuesday (October 31) about a stream of false reports on the results of Sunday's (October 29) historic elections, saying they could spark more violence in this tense central African country. Western diplomats and the United Nations, which has its largest peacekeeping force in Democratic Republic of Congo, have repeatedly warned against a resurgence of violence between supporters of the two presidential candidates -- incumbent Joseph Kabila and former rebel Jean-Pierre Bemba. The two men's private armies fought three days of street battles in August in Kinshasa that killed more than 30 people and have large, well-armed forces in the city now. Since Sunday's vote, meant to bring an end to decades of conflict and pillage that have left the mineral-rich country destitute, emails and text messages have circulated giving alleged details of the emerging results. Many come from supporters of the two candidates. As vote counting goes on, election agents and witnesses for the two candidates keep a close eye on the counting. "We came here to observe how the computers were emptied, to check there is no previous data left in the computer," said Dr. David Nku Imbie, election witness for Joseph Kabila. "I've seen how the computer was emptied, then they opened the ballot bags in front of us. Then we checked the ballots that were opened. we continued to check the voting and everything so far has been well," Nku Imbie continued. One email was sent around to diplomats, journalists and the United Nations on Oct. 24 purporting to be a detailed table of the results almost a week before the election took place. Electoral commission chief Apollinaire Malu Malu said on Tuesday the commission was worried by false and premature proclamations of the poll result which could provoke violence. Malu Malu said the election would be rerun on Wednesday (November 1) in the town of Fataki in eastern Congo where a soldier killed two election workers on Sunday (October 29), provoking a riot in which polling stations were burned down and up to 25,000 ballots destroyed. The soldier, believed to have been drunk, has been sentenced to death by a military tribunal, U.N. radio said. The election was being re-run on Tuesday (October 31) in Bumba, in the north of the country, where two rioters were shot dead by police on Sunday after destroying polling stations. Malu Malu refused to say when he expected results to be announced despite speculation that they would be ready before the scheduled date of Nov. He said Congo, which is the size of western Europe, was largely without roads and the process would take time.

ITN Source | November 1, 2006

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