Loser in Congo elections files court challenge as supporters protest
By Associated Press
Saturday, November 18, 2006 - Updated: 11:16 AM EST
KINSHASA, Congo - The former rebel who lost Congo’s presidential elections filed a lawsuit Saturday at the Supreme Court to challenge the vote count as dozens of his supporters marched through downtown Kinshasa.
Jean-Pierre Bemba declared Thursday he would “use all legal avenues to ensure the will of the people is respected,” indicating he will not enlist the hundreds of fighters he has in the capital. The pledge was seen as crucial for Congo’s fledgling democracy.
Bemba, who ruled his own private fiefdom in northern Congo during the 1998-2002 civil war and became one of four vice presidents in a transitional government, won an overwhelming support in Kinshasa and western Congo but only 42 percent of the overall vote, according to the Independent Electoral Commission. President Joseph Kabila won 58 percent.
Lawyers filed suit in the Supreme Court of Justice on Saturday, witnesses said. Wednesday’s provisional results have to be formalized by an announcement from the same court by Nov. 30.
Dozens of Bemba supporters chanting “Bemba is our president, not Kabila” marched a few blocks from the ex-rebel chief’s residence to the Supreme Court building, which was guarded by riot police and U.N. peacekeepers posted in armored cars nearby.
A coalition of some 50 parties supporting Bemba claim that votes counted at ballot stations the day of the runoff, Oct. 29, do not conform with published results.
Independent electoral observers have said this is nearly impossible, since candidates and witnesses signed off on vote counts at ballot stations and these sheets can easily be checked against published figures. Hundreds of thousands of foreign and local observers monitored the voting and the count.
When Bemba disputed the results of the first round of presidential voting, in August, the two men’s fighters battled in the streets of Kinshasa for three days before U.N. peacekeepers restored order.
More clashes erupted last week when Bemba’s camp first disputed the vote count, but the U.N. peacekeeping mission acted swiftly to negotiate a cease-fire. Three civilians and a soldier were killed during three hours of machine gunfire and mortar explosions around Bemba’s house on the city’s main June 30 Boulevard.
Some 100 peacekeepers with armored cars have since surrounded the residence, where hundreds of Bemba’s fighters live despite an agreement that all fighters return to their barracks until they are integrated into the national army.
Police also arrested hundreds of homeless people, charging they set off the last confrontation by throwing stones at vehicles and blocking the road with burning tires.
Gen. Baudouin Liwanga, governor of Kinshasa, has since banned protests. Police this week were able to peacefully disperse small groups of Bemba militants who stoned vehicles and set tires ablaze in front of his home.
U.N. troops backed by tanks and armored cars have stepped up patrols, and riot police are guarding strategic buildings and hotspots.
Nevertheless, hundreds of wary Kinshasa residents, mainly women and children, boarded boats that ferried them across the Congo River to Brazzaville, capital of neighboring Republic of Congo. Others took buses and cars that drove out to the countryside.
The normally bustling capital has remained subdued, with no traffic jams and many of the 7 million residents staying home. Schools were closed until Monday.
The Atlanta-based Carter Center said its mission of observers had confidence in the announced results.
It said it still was studying one problem area, also disputed by Bemba’s coalition, involving between 1 million and 1.5 million votes of people allowed to cast ballots at stations other than where they registered - poll workers for example - and those who had voters’ cards but who were omitted from the voters’ register because of technical hitches.
That would not be enough to change the outcome, since Kabila was given 9,436,779 votes and Bemba 6,819,822 - a difference of more than 2.5 million.
European Union observers said in a statement published Saturday that they had noted “sometimes abusive use” of those disputed lists. But they added: “If, in an absurd case, the fraudulent use of the registers were in favor of the same candidate in all the polling stations of the country, this would not go beyond 650,000 votes in favor of one or the other candidate.”
© Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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