The election commission has published their first and second days of preliminary results, and has said they will be announced the results of their compilation every day. The results elicited a lot of controversy, especially because they compilation is taking place unevenly across the country. According to the results, which comprise 33% of polling stations, Kabila has around 51%, Tshisekedi 34% and Kamerhe 5%. But there is a huge difference in the number of stations counted between the different provinces - in Kinshasa, only 3,33% have been counted, while in Bas-Congo the figure is 67,85%.
While many have complained that the figures could hardly be correct - some can't understand that Kabila is far ahead of Kamerhe in South Kivu, others protest that he can't have 90% of the vote in Katanga - other allegations of impropriety have come forward.
The election commissioner Mulunda Ngoy has decreed that all packages that are not in order should be invalidated, which has led the election commission to invalidate results 130 polling stations in the Kinshasa I circonscription (Lukunga) alone, around 5% of all votes there, and 30 stations in Kinshasa II. The opposition (and some diplomats) claim that Mulunda does not have the legal authority to do this, and argues that the government is invalidating votes in opposition strongholds.
Other reports have come in suggesting that the chain of custody of votes has been broken in many places, with in some cases election candidates transporting votes from polling stations to compilation centers.
In the meantime, the Security Council has met in a closed session on the Congolese elections. According to people familiar with details of the meeting, the Council is deeply divided, with some western powers expressing concern (Germany and France, in particular), and Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa backing the Congolese government's version. However, even the western powers say they don't know whether fraud was widespread enough to qualify for terms like "systematic" or "large-scale." In general, the Council wants to keep UN involvement limited, trying to avoid the role of arbiter, while at the same time they are worried about violence next week.
In general, the priority of Council members does not seem to be to push for accurate results, in part because they think they will never be able to get them, and also because even accurate results would, in their eyes, not bring peace. In any case, the Council is too divided to take any ambitious stance.
In general, it is almost impossible to imagine a scenario in which definitive results are announced and all sides accept them. It is almost certain that there will be some degree of violence - although it is unclear how much and how it will play out - during the coming week. But, in the words of one UN official I spoke with in Kinshasa, "the donors seem to be almost entirely oblivious of this." The French ambassador was the only permanent representative who attended the Council's meeting, all other officials were lower-ranking. The attention of the big embassies seems to be focused on Syria and Egypt.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
30 comments:
wow.
susan rice and hillary have truly got to be the most useless diplomats this nation has ever produced.
according to this, we have a “hung UN”. they don’t want to stand up for democracy in the Congo, the nation’s that have a foot in the pot of gold that are congo’s minerals don’t want too either, and they are totally unprepared for a spike of violence in the Congo because Syria is sliding into civil war and Egypt just may as well?
actually, wait, i get it. they know Kabila will unleash a reign of terror on protesters and that the congolese live in such destitution that any insurrection will peter out.
thanks for the report, J, and damn to hell these pampered and useless UN dilettantes. its stupid crap like this that encourages Americans (and others) to seek military solutions to problems and for the Right to castigate the UN. well, if we have bloodshed in all three countries we know exactly who to blame. i realize the un system encourage this kind of paralysis but people’s lives are on the line and that system never seems to ever be able to self-correct in the most crucial of moments.
the american people don’t pay taxes for these idiots to ruminate on complexities- we pay them to make hard decisions and to act when humanity is threatened.
effin unreal.
jose
Jason, could you please give us the view of the US and the UK in the Security Council? Are they supporting the congolese government view or not? I know you tried to avoid it deliberately in your blog. Please give us the US and UK view on this election.
There is not transparency in these figures. It is impossible for the opposition and for any other person to check and verify the result released by Ngoy Mulunda. At least he should tell Congolese people the bureau and the center from which the results come. This would make it easy to check. BECAUSE OF LACK OF GOOD METHODOLOGY, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO TRUST HIM, EVEN IF HIS RESULTS ARE CORRECT.
It is surreal to watch the World's utter disregard for another potential Central African crisis. This is the first time I've witnessed it in real time, while really following the goings on. Surreal.
I just can't understand why the west is so indifferent to the plight of the Congolese...Even our gorillas elicit more sympathy! I guess It's up to the people to rise up against the installation of another cleptocratic dictatorship. There's a curfew now and the news I'm getting from Kasai is troubling.
It is obvious that Mr. Mulunda is tampering with election results, how all this will play out, only future will tell
This is the consequence of a flawed electoral process: all the problems that were highlighted by the International Crisis Group (ICG), for instance, regarding a lack of transparency, unpreparedness of the CENI have now come full circle. The main culprit to me is the Congolese government whose only objective has been to ensure the incumbent re-election even it means widespread violence. All this would not have happened had the authorities listened to civil society, NGOs and other political parties.
Anon Dec 3rd 2011 3:58-
I could not agree more. Its time to let the Congolese take matters in their own hands. Actually, I've always believed its been time but the need is more salient right now.
Anon Dec 3rd 2011 3:20-
That is the problem. It is actually possible- barring mass fraud ofcourse- that Kabila is about to pull this off. I mean, it IS possible. Well, if so, what is the process for the opposition- or Kabila if he loses- to challenge the results? Is CENI being guarded because we are not past the tabulation process? I could understand that (sorta) if that was the case but noone seems to know and we are heading towards the abyss!!!
Anand/Jose
Indeed. Surreal and pretty horrible if you ask me. Honestly, all the activists groups NEED to start getting away from the rape/mineral complex and just starting putting some intense and overwhelming pressure on our elected officials to push Kinshasa to engage in state-building. That crisis is, ofcourse, so heartbreaking but without a functioning state that is accountable to the people we will keep going to the brink like this....
Mel
It seems like we are forgetting a thing or two.
1. tshisekedi was set to contest these results regardless of their reliability.
He said once he will be elected by 100%, he went on to auto-proclame himself president this was all ahppening weeks before the election. So, the intent to contest was there because he had no objective criteria to conclude that he was the most popular Congolese on the earth.
2. Most people were saying it was going to be close.
3. Some even went on to say the incumbent is more likely to win...
Where have all these predictions gone? were they any objectivity in all these predictions or the desire to see the opposition win, regardless of true facts, is now more oimportant than anything else?
4. I am yet to see a single proof that Mulunda's results are coming from thin air...
Yes I trust the Congolese will take their responsibility.
Rich
Thanks for the report Jason. So Mulunda is basically arbitrarily eliminating votes based on an order of packages? who is at fault for this? Isn't the electoral workers fault? So the people and the parties are being punished because the electoral workers that Mulunda picked and trained are not doing their job? that is amazing!
Rich-
You are never going to see proof- that's the point about fraud.
And, if we assume there is no fraud, we can't prove the assumption because CENI is not informing anyone about the process.
I'd add that the vote isn't done yet so, again, let's not make predictions until a) the vote is done b) observers give their final (and likely conflicting) reports c) the Supreme Court handles its cases. I know your pulling for Le Dictator to win but let's just wait and see if he indeed wins and FAIRLY.
I'm curious, Rich, what are your thoughts about the Revolutionary Guard opening fire on unarmed Congolese?
And Anon from Dec 3rd 6:28 is correct. Mulunda is going to invalidate packages based on what? Because his own workers messed up? Is that how responsibility plays out in the Congo? Are these the acts of grown men?
Mel
Jason, a few Congolese friends of mine have suggested to me that the most likely outcome is that Kabila wins the vote - fairly or note - but that the violence will be rather limited because the opposition is not as heavily armed as other groups have been in the past. What do you think of this assessment?
Mark,
Kabila and his side have tried to steal the votes of the population. A man so violent who is asking his guard to kill the population.
Let's analyse a little bit the options we have:
1. The Opposition wins the elections: what happens to Kabila and his side? He controls the army, and all the Security Sector (including Justice and Police. He will never live as a normal citizen. He is limited intellectually, and has no ideology. He has never been prepared to be a president.
2. Kabila wins: the population will protest. just look in Kinshasa, where people are well informed of what he really is. He has no support from Kinshasa people. Kabila has support from tribal background.
3. All opposition is behind Tshisekedi:
Kabila is limited, he can't rule a country like DRC. He has never been prepared to be a president of great nation. DRC is the 2nd largest country in Africa. If the International Community really wants to solve problems in Africa, they should stabilizing the DRC.
More than 6 millions of people have been killed, enough is enough.
US, EU and other donors are spending too much on DRC, go look at the figures, still no progress on the ground. There is no value for money from these programmes.
Come on guys, let's be fair with Congo.
We all know that African leaders never lose elections (Kenya, Zimbabwe, ...).
CENI has never been impartial. The current CENI Boss is a great support of Kabila, they prepared a large scale fraud (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iDgeytK0LI) follow that link and you will understand why South Africa is backing the current regime.
You can ask your friend to translate the below page, dated Sept. 28th, 2005
You will understand that this election is a complete joke.
http://www.lesoftonline.net/phil.php?id=688
IT'S TIME TO UNPLUG THE CURRENT REGIME!
Mel -
Ref # "I'm curious, Rich, what are your thoughts about the Revolutionary Guard opening fire on unarmed Congolese?"
For anyone to open fire on unarmed civilians is a CRIME and should be dealt with according to the law. However, noone should allow or seek the scenes of (1990s pillages or indeed 1998) to be repeated.
I don't get the point that you never going to see proof because its fraud! How can you call it fraud if you cannot proof it? Unless we base our assumptions on pure SUBJECTIVE FEELINGS.
I'm not pulling for anyone to win. In fact the only winner MUST be the Congolese but most of the comments we are making here are simply SUBJECTIVE based on our EMOTIONS and DESIRES.
Rich
Five remarks:
1) Rich is right: the udps has followed a strategy to contest the results of the CENI, already from he beginning of the campaign. First they made a lot of noise about the server. When they realized that this was not credible, they had to found another stick to hit CENI and president Mulunda.
On 21 november Le Phare (pro-udps) published the "news" that there were 3 million voting bulletins already marked for Kabila that left the airport of Johannesburg. Le Phare launched this "news" without any form of proof. This created a real paranoia among some fanatics of Tshisekedi. I hear from congolese friends in Kinshasa that at some voting bureau’s young men from udps attacked vehicles transporting voting bulletins, they stole the bulletins, marked them and then they said they had "proof of fraud".
When you follow on the net, facebook and youtube, you can find a lot of clearly dishonest agitation on the voting results. For example this one, from 29 november, giving the results coming from "the compilation centre of udps that collaborated with the agents of Monusco" (sic). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw1R_P1f3Rg&feature=share
The hacking of the site of the CENI is a very serious incident. The url of the hacked website was sent in a facebook group "les combattants du facebook" by a certain Mubabinge Bilolo, living near Munchen in Germany. When this was immediately exposed and the CENI cleared the page, strangely the facebook group became closed for non-members.
The only way to explain this strategy, is that the leaders of the udps knew very well they had no chance of winning, so they followed a strategy of destabilizing and sabotage of the electoral proces.
Just before the facebook page of the "combattants de facebook" was closed for non-membres one could read this comment about the news that the page on the CENI-site was a false one, that says a lot about the mindset of these people "piraté ou pas piraté, nous savons que Tshisekedi a gagné les élections et nous ne laisserons pas voler nos élections".
When I read the communiqué from Mpuila, representing the udps for the Benelux, sent to the press this week speaking about the "apocalypse that is coming to kinshasa", I think udps is behaving as a dangerous lugubrious sect, that is desperately trying to create violence.
On the other hand I saw how the people of Kinshasa refused to follow the foolish attempt to create civil war by Bemba after the elections in 2006. I see how the call from Tshisekedi to manifest on Sunday 27 November in the stade des martyrs was completely ignored.
I am hopeful: there may be some attacks, some violence, but it will be limited to a minority of dangerous fanatics. There will be no masses of Congolese who want to fight or to face justice and certainly not to die for Thsisekedi. The sect will expose itself and the big majority of reasonable people will take distance. Let's hope.
2) Based on the provisional results, one can say that in some provinces, other then the Kasai's, Tshisekedi had a good result: in bas-congo and Equateur for example. I think Colette Braeckman is right to say that these are "sanction votes". This means: people did not vote for Tshisekedi but they voted againts the majority. And this means that the most interesting in these elections will be to see the recomposition of the parliament. I heard already echos of regions where all former parliamentarians who were candidate have been trown out. In Butembo for instance. Will there be more deputies this time who are realy concerned by the destiny of the Congolese people? Let's wait, see and hope.
3) people who hope that the West will come and intervene if they create some violence and some mess in Kisnhasa, are fooling themselves. Neither the Congolese people, neither the Angolans nor the Southafricians will or can tolerate that.
At the same time the West is realy desperate about Congo. Since three decennia they can not find political or military personal in Congo who are reliable and competent enough to work with and obtain some durable result.
They know Tshisekedi very well in Washington, Brussels and in Paris. They know what he is worth or better they have realy no illusions in his capacities and they will not trow Congo for a second time into chaos because they know that they risk to lose whole central and southern Africa, as they did lose Iran in the seventies, by supporting the Shah to the very end.
It are the people on the ground who, in the end, make their choices.
4)HRW has to answer questions from the congolese justice. They said 18 people were killed by the republican gard. They must give the names of those people so the Congolese justice can work. On the other hand they did not spoke about the 3 people from Palu who were killed by udps, nor by the violence by udps-members against all persons, all vehicles, all houses where one could find a sign of pro-kabila propaganda, on the same day. Why HRW did not do that?
5) Jason writes: "the Council is deeply divided, with some western powers expressing concern (Germany and France, in particular), and Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa backing the Congolese government's version".
This is a recent phenomena : passed months the BRICS are in contradiction with he West on some important issues. Libya was the beginning, then there is Syria and Pakistan... and now there is Congo.
So where is the truth? Are the BRICS represented by governments, diplomats and media who are liars and cheaters and who love dictators? Is this the way the West wants to see the future? A new cold or even hot war? This time the bolcheviks with the knife in the mouth replaced by the BRICS loving dictators and violence? And the US, who cannot even tolerate the occupy wall street movment, is the master-protector of human rights and democracy?
Congo is a country that belongs in the BRICS. It must become an emergent economy. That is in the interest of the Congolese people. And the West should accept the BRICS and work with them and, most important, lose arrogance and learn from them in stead of giving lessons.
This is what professor Deborah Brautigam explains rightly in this video that i commend to every one : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za8euDy9n7w
There is this widespread notion, among Western experts, that J Kabila will win the re-election because the opposition is divided. A unique opposition candidate would have probably won against the current incumbent. However, this is ignoring the lack of transparency over electoral lists and the CENI's bias towards the current regime. if we put this aside, oppostion leaders a such as V Kamerhe or Mbusa Nyamwisi have a strong support base in the Kivus and, probably, have done much better than the current tally suggests. Besides, J kabila term has been disappointing for many in the East: peace is still elusive and some suspect the president favours Tutsis and the CNDP rebel group instead of "autochtones".
First tallies of national assembly elections suggest a rejection of deputies of the ruling PPRD. I canot understand in a political system where most powers lie in the hands of the president, voters would reject PPRD members of parliament (with no or little power) and re-elect a president of the same party.
The numbers don't seem to make any sense:
- Kabila, Kengo, Tshisekedi perform well in the strongholds but not Kamerhe nor Mbusa
- Katanga giving 90% of the vote to Kabila when there is an increasing antagonism in the province between the northern and southern part. What about all the lubas in the province who have historically supported Tshisekedi
I could go on but there is clearly something wrong that the CENI is in no hurry to explain or clear. Finally, the french media, after a 33.3% tally, is already proclaiming Kabila the winner.... I wonder why ?
http://www.tv5.org/cms/chaine-francophone/info/p-1909-L-actualite-en-video.htm?jt=jt_afrique&timecode=580
or
http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2011/12/03/presidentielle-en-rdc-tshisekedi-conteste-la-victoire-de-kabila_1613158_3212.html
For one i think it would be better if CENI released results inorder of polling stations instead of a ballpark figure,maybe this way the congolese people would compare with what was on the ground.
Either way i also think opposition leaders and especially Tshisekedi would not have accepted the results unless they potrayed him as the winner,putting in mind this would also be his last bid at the presidency.
Lastly i'm sure Kabila having seen the violence that erupted in Kenya etc has devised a plan in dealing with the post election violence anticipated and especially in Kinshasa.
Mwafrika.
Tony, Jason and Mwafrica -
Many thanks for your coolheaded inputs.
Tony, I could not agree more with everything you say.
I don't know what people have made of tshisekedi deliberate campaign of discrediting the electoral process and his refusal to acknowledge the results published so far! The INTENT to FORCE his way into the institutional matrix through the window of these elections was spelt out long ago and now no one wants to even mention it when they are lamenting on his most recent claims...
He had lied throughout this campaign and I will not be surprised if he continues to lie after the campaign or even after the publication of the results. You remember the claim his planes were refused to land in Kisangani, he will vote in Manono, J Kabila’s fief or that he had booked two aircrafts + a helicopter and a 4x4 convertible bullet proof car for his campaign etc…
He bases the perception of his popularity on the masses and other "DANGEROUS FANATICS" (Tony, 2011) to claim he is the president of the DRC. I wonder what people like Werrason, Fally Ipupa, Koffi Olomide, J B Mpiana, Zacharie Bababaswe... are waiting for to also auto-proclaim themselves 'presidents of the DRC'? Because they too can drag masses of Congolese or fill Stade des Martyrs with their fans!
Jason, I agree that disaggregated results should also be published but at the end of the day it is possible to double check if numbers/districts are adding up when the final total comes out. I know this may take time (logistic) to cross check polling station by polling station but Mulunda must be stupid enough to think he can fake numbers and not be caught out! He knows the figures he is putting out will always end up being cross checked since independent observers have their figures and minutes were taken and signed by all parties envolved.
Mwafrica, as Tony said, this was a rejection vote and J Kabila, if he is proclaimed the winner, must HAVE a deep and serious look inside his own backyard and why not think of allowing the opposition MORE say and action in the daily management of the country? Take unpopular decisions in his own entourage and I guess this should be easier because it is his last mandate.
The only problem is, we have an opposition class that takes things too personal to the point of even refusing to call the president of their country by his TITLE, preferring to refer to him as a Rwandan or even 'ce bonhomme' to say 'that guy' (ET, 2011). How would you cooperate with someone who refuses to even acknowledge you as a rightful citizen of your country?
I am confident things will be just fine and as Tony said, if any trouble, thus will be limited to the 'dangerous fanatiques' because the majority of Congolese I speak to and the mood within the country is not the one for a long standing bloody confrontation as some may legitimately FEAR or WISH...
Rich
@ Toni: you should quote Colette Braeckman thoroughly. In her blog "Le Vote Sanction", she highlights the fact that E Tshisekedi has benefited from all those, across the DRC, disappointed in the current regime. In another blog "Tous les Congolais sont devenus experts es elections", she claims that Kamerhe won in the Kivus and that Tshisekedi is leading in most regions and that the vote is evenly split in Katanga.....this is hardly reflected in the CENI tally. Besides, you contend that the West is desperate to find good political or military personnel....it is not up to the West to decide who should lead Congo but Congolese. Recent history in Congo has showed that decent, nationalistic Congolese leaders(Lumumba or LD Kabila) has fallen victims of the West plots while poor ones (Mobutu or J kabila) were supported and helped and everyone turned a blind eye on their obvious lack of interest for the well-being of their people and shortcomings.
@Mwafrika: before crushing any post election violence, it could worthwhile for CENi to share detailed information about the vote counting so that each party can compare the information they collected with what is announced by CENI....Surely this is not difficult to do
@Rich: Tshisekedi, V Kamerhe and Kengo Wa Dondo have all clearly stated that they reject these partial results. E Tshisekedi has been a popular (and at times divisive) figure for decades now and he draws large crowds because he is viewed as an alternative to the current incumbent. You have to remember that people who attends his meetings are not paid or bussed to these meetings. On the contrary, it is their belief (right or wrong) in him that attracted large crowds in Bas Congo, Katanga or Equateur for instance. We cannot exonerate the Congolese governement for having ran an opaque electoral process that is now showing its ugly face. All this was preventable: they just had to follow the ICG recommendations for instance but I guess it would have made harder for everybody to cheat or complain.
@Rich: The disparaging names or comments thrown at J Kabila are not different from the disdain and ugliness with which Barack Obama is treated by a section of the American public and Republicans. This doesn't stop B Obama from working with his opponents in the interests of the American people. J kabila has practical problems: he hasn't stamped out corruption as his "zero tolerance" expression suggested, he didn't bring peace to the East as was hoped, he oversaw clear violations of basic human rights of press (killing of journalists), expression (assassination of F Chebeya). I would to know who is a "dangerous fanactic" in your mind ? People who only want their vote to be accurately counted and reflected or people intent on creating/spreading violence for political gains ? If the latter, then the ruling regime should also be labelled "dangerous fanatics" when we look at the way they unleashed mobs against V kamerhe during his campaign in Maniema for instance
@anonymous
1) The blog of Colette was written the day after the elections. The results of the vote was not known at that moment.
Colette gave her impressions and she was right, I think, to make the observation that for many Congolese the vote for Tshisekedi was a vote aginst the majorité presidentielle.
She said: "Dans de larges couches de la population, le discours de Tshisekedi a fait mouche. Pas seulement parce qu’il a tenu des propos démagogiques, parfois haineux et provocateurs, parfois ethnistes, promettant de renvoyer « le bonhomme » Kabila au Rwanda. Le vieux leader a fait mouche parce que, de manière plus incantatoire que chiffrée, il a promis le changement. L’opposant historique a su catalyser la colère des sans voix, des sans travail, des sans pain, des sans école ; il a bénéficié d’un vote-sanction, dont la sévérité doit faire réfléchir tous ceux qui aspirent à garder ou à prendre le pouvoir"
So for me I am very curious to see in the results of the elections the change in parliament because it is there that the majorité can change and become more at the service of the congolese people.
2) I completely agree that it is not upto the West to decide who should lead the congolese. I clearly said that.
I am only referring to leaders in the West who act and think like that and also to their puppets who follow this sort of logic. I remember, for example, in the beginning of the ninenties a certain Tshiskedki repeating that "it was the West who should make Mobutu leave".
At the end it was Laurent Désiré Kabila who made an end to the Mobutu-regime and Tshisekedi was in this period on the side of the Mobutu dictatorship.
The only problem Tshisekedi has for the moment is that the West doesn't find him very usefull for the moment, knowing his lack of capacities.
So the udps may think that by creating violence in Kinshasa they will provoke international intervention to impose negociations on Kabila. Or to get rid of Kabila as did Ouatar, with the help of the french and the americans, in vory Coast with Gbgagbo. Well I hink they are fooling themselves. That's all.
@Tony: the real power lie with the president. Under kabila leadership, all other bodies were marginalised: national assembly, senate, judiciairy and government at national and local level (particularly with the Jan 2011 consititutional reforms). So much so that there are no cabinet meetings. Outgoing ministers (N Mobutu ou M Nyamwisi) and insiders complained openly about a "governement parallele" in the presidential palace where all key decisions were being taken. I do not agree that a change in majority in the national assembly will modify the course of national politics and improve people lives either:
1. the new majority will fall into the outgoing parliament trappings i.e. selling their votes
2.there will be a deadlock between the executive and legistive branches as the latter will try to setlle scores with the incumbent if he wins re-election.
"lack of capacities", I do not know what is this means but one of J Kabila many nicknames is "Nintendo" as he is said to be more interested in driving cars and playing video games than trying to understand the implications of the DRC-China deal as the US ambassador pointed out.
@ Anonymous December 4, 2011 3:56 AM -
When I say 'dangerous fanatic' I agree with Tony's comment but I also mean those who think because ET will not be declared the winner they will break down the country, send people back to rwanda or make CENI president cry in his mother's tongue this list is not exhaustive...
The DRC does not belong to tshisekedi's fanatics alone nor doe it belong to J Kabila's fan, it belongs to all Congolese and every one must ensure they are there to promote PEACE and STABILITY...
You cannot call a process 'opaque' or 'fraudulent' if you are not able to prove it... Any objection should be brought to justice not in the streets or threatening people to send them to rwanda or with any other apocalyptic comments etc...
Rich
@Rich: All parties to this process must buy into it: thats a basic principle. For people to buy into a process they must agree on a modus operandi. The problem we have here is that CENI has not done enough to reassure everybody that it is impartial; for instance by giving clear guidance on how the vote was counted and which polling station it relates to. If at this key stage CENI cannot be trusted, the opposition will believe that the Supreme Court is just as much part of the plot to deprive them from "their victory". Confidence building measures have been lacking from this process. I am sure, at a personal level, you wouldn't like to take part to court proceedings if you know that the judge and jury have already decided that you are guilty without hearing your arguments. You will only be ready to bring to justice your objections when you have confidence in their impartiality and professionalism, which is not the case. Justice in the DRC is always delivered in favour of those in power and/or with money.....always. Lastly, if you feel your basic rights to vote, to free speech, etc are denied what do you do?
1. Do you protest to the court knowing perfectly that it has been hijacked by the the political elite
2.Use violent means to be heard
3. Sit tight and hope for a superior power (God, the international community) to come to the rescue
If a regime is illegitimate and does not respect its people rights and voice, these people are within their rights to fight that regime...even violently.
The current regime is just as bad in xenophobic comments: you should have listened to what Kabila's supporter Kyungu wa Kumwanza said about people from Kasai who live in Katanga and don't vote for Kabila. Or, and the list is not exhaustive.....the way V Kamerhe was chased out Maniema by Kabila's supporters who called him a foreigner who should go back to.....Rwanda.
Anon December 4, 2011
I think the whole problem with your argument is, who is the PEOPLE? Any candidate can claim to have the support of the Congolese PEOPLE...
As for xenophobic comments, let's not get mixed up about supporters because there are good examples of other supporters clearly condeming any xenophobic tendencies. However, I note that so far tshisekedi has been the only one to be encouraging this and clearly spelling it out in public; which I find is a bit irresponsible for someone who claims he would like to be the president of all Congolese ...
Rich
@Rich:I am not talking about the people. The argument is very simple: all candidates should be given enough details about the voting tally so that they can compare their witnesses' information at the polling sattion level and what has been reported by CENI. This is clearly lacking here. The latest excuse that Mr Ngoy Mulunda has found not to give this information is "logistics problems" or that their web site could be hacked.....really ?. I am not talking on behalf of the people, I just wish their voice as expressed in their votes could be reported honestly: 1 man, 1 vote. It applied to N Mandela, it should apply to J Kabila and E Tshisekedi....its not what we are seeing here. All this discussion will over as soon as CENI is able to substantiate its numbers and communicate transparently.
I guess E Tshisekedi says directly and openly what J kabila let others state on his behalf.
Anon 9:27 -
Ref # "all candidates should be given enough details about the voting tally so that they can compare their witnesses' information at the polling sattion level and what has been reported by CENI..."
I agree with you and I am calling for this too you can see my comments on the latest thread...
Ref # "I guess E Tshisekedi says directly and openly what J kabila let others state on his behalf..."
I may be wrong but I found it irresponsible and divisive from such a senior political leader in a country that needs to pull together...
Rich
Please. You want the Americans to interject themselves in the election saga in Congo? And then you would complain about the imperialist Americans violating sovereignty, oh, that's right, unless it was on behalf of the faction you supported. The Congolese are responsible for some/a lot of the plight they are in, it is not the international community's responsibility to sort everything out for them. Kinshasa and the Congolese need to start taking responsibility and sorting out some of their own problems. The Congolese mostly paid for and ran these elections...what leverage, exactly, does anyone have on the CENI, besides sternly worded communiques? That's right, practically none. Not to mention, you don't know what diplomacy is going on behind the scenes. Newsflash: Blogs are not completely authoritative sources on what the US or any country is doing vis-a-vis Congo. Just imagine, if you would, that the international community is concerned and doing things, but maybe it's not public. And as for ICG and the lot of NGO's...they have agendas too, everyone has a horse in this race. If peace broke out in Congo, how would Human Rights Watch support itself? Give me a break. Like these organizations are paragons of virtue. They are just as liable for spreading unsubstantiated rumors and theories, and dictating poor US policy and legislation in the Great Lakes Region as your so-called lousy diplomats.
And as for Tshisekedi being some sort of savior. Get Real. No one in Congolese politics has a platform except for, "get in power and take what you can while you can." Kabila is no better, so I am not arguing for a continuation of his regime. The Congolese deserve leaders that are honest and transparent and working for the advancement of the Congolese. Not leaders -- like Tshisekedi and Kabila -- who foment rumors, violence, and blatant lies. Any leader in this country will have a tough go at it. Things won't change overnight if Tsh became president, and his supporters deserve honesty in that regard. The whole lot are no better than Tea Party leaders in the US who like their constituency to be ignorant of the facts..because facts get in the way of personal agendas.
I agree that Mulunda and the CENI need to be more transparent. But it is just as irresponsible for the UDPS to call for violence. Two wrongs don't make a right. My parents taught me that in pre-school. At some point, the Congolese need to grow up and own their problems.
Post a Comment