Post by Tulameen on Jun 30, 2006 10:58:14 GMT -5
BBC NEWS
Police in Democratic Republic of Congo have fired tear gas at opposition supporters in Kinshasa on the first day of campaigning for landmark elections.
Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi is boycotting the polls and his supporters held a protest march.
The elections follow the official end of DR Congo's five-year war in 2003.
However violence continues - 11 people have been killed in clashes between the Congolese army and a religious group in the western port city of Matadi.
Deputy UN spokesman in DR Congo Jean-Tobi Okala told the BBC that the Bundu dia Kongo religious group was holding a march in Matadi during which a solider was killed and five more seriously wounded.
DR CONGO'S ELECTIONS
33 presidential candidates
8,650 parliamentary candidates
500 parliamentary seats
267 registered political parties
25m registered voters
Other soldiers then opened fire, killing 10 demonstrators.
Reuters news agency reports that the Bundu dia Kongo seeks the restoration of the ancient Kongo Kingdom, which includes parts of Angola, Congo, DR Congo and Gabon.
But Mr Okala stressed that the deaths had nothing to do with the 30 July elections.
The UN, and its 17,000 peacekeepers, are helping to organise what are hoped will be DR Congo's first democratic polls in 45 years.
After years of conflict and misrule, holding the elections will be a major challenge - there are no roads or railways linking one side of the country to the other.
Thirty-two candidates are opposing Mr Kabila in the first round of the presidential vote, including two vice-presidents and former rebel leaders.
Political parties are meeting in the capital to discuss their concerns at the polls but President Joseph Kabila's party is not taking part.
Mandate over
Friday 30 June was the original date for the end of the transitional period following the end of the war but the elections have been postponed several times and so the deadline has been missed.
Opposition supporters say this means the power-sharing government led by Mr Kabila should resign.
"Today is the end of the transition. Today everything comes to an end," said Pierre Luabeya, a supporter of Mr Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party.
Mr Tshisekedi wants voter registration to be reopened, after he initially called on his supporters to boycott the process.
Friday is also a public holiday to make 46 years of independence from Belgium but correspondents say many residents of the capital stayed at home in case of serious violence.
There is a heavy deployment of police and UN peacekeepers on the streets.
Stepping stone
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says Friday's meeting aims to address the concerns of opposition parties.
Safety arrangements for candidates during the campaign and a guarantee that all candidates will have equal access to private and public media were to be the main issues on the agenda.
President Kabila's campaigns have been broadcast live on state television across the country, but other candidates have struggled for media access.
The UN has appealed for political parties to avoid inflammatory statements, and to refrain from inciting ethnic and tribal hatred.
The elections are intended to end a post-war transitional period, with the government made up of various warring factions.
But armed men still roam parts of eastern DR Congo, three years after the official end of the five-year conflict.
The last free democratic election was at independence from Belgium in 1960.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/5128486.stm
Published: 2006/06/30 15:14:12 GMT
© BBC MMVI
Police in Democratic Republic of Congo have fired tear gas at opposition supporters in Kinshasa on the first day of campaigning for landmark elections.
Veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi is boycotting the polls and his supporters held a protest march.
The elections follow the official end of DR Congo's five-year war in 2003.
However violence continues - 11 people have been killed in clashes between the Congolese army and a religious group in the western port city of Matadi.
Deputy UN spokesman in DR Congo Jean-Tobi Okala told the BBC that the Bundu dia Kongo religious group was holding a march in Matadi during which a solider was killed and five more seriously wounded.
DR CONGO'S ELECTIONS
33 presidential candidates
8,650 parliamentary candidates
500 parliamentary seats
267 registered political parties
25m registered voters
Other soldiers then opened fire, killing 10 demonstrators.
Reuters news agency reports that the Bundu dia Kongo seeks the restoration of the ancient Kongo Kingdom, which includes parts of Angola, Congo, DR Congo and Gabon.
But Mr Okala stressed that the deaths had nothing to do with the 30 July elections.
The UN, and its 17,000 peacekeepers, are helping to organise what are hoped will be DR Congo's first democratic polls in 45 years.
After years of conflict and misrule, holding the elections will be a major challenge - there are no roads or railways linking one side of the country to the other.
Thirty-two candidates are opposing Mr Kabila in the first round of the presidential vote, including two vice-presidents and former rebel leaders.
Political parties are meeting in the capital to discuss their concerns at the polls but President Joseph Kabila's party is not taking part.
Mandate over
Friday 30 June was the original date for the end of the transitional period following the end of the war but the elections have been postponed several times and so the deadline has been missed.
Opposition supporters say this means the power-sharing government led by Mr Kabila should resign.
"Today is the end of the transition. Today everything comes to an end," said Pierre Luabeya, a supporter of Mr Tshisekedi's Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party.
Mr Tshisekedi wants voter registration to be reopened, after he initially called on his supporters to boycott the process.
Friday is also a public holiday to make 46 years of independence from Belgium but correspondents say many residents of the capital stayed at home in case of serious violence.
There is a heavy deployment of police and UN peacekeepers on the streets.
Stepping stone
The BBC's Arnaud Zajtman in Kinshasa says Friday's meeting aims to address the concerns of opposition parties.
Safety arrangements for candidates during the campaign and a guarantee that all candidates will have equal access to private and public media were to be the main issues on the agenda.
President Kabila's campaigns have been broadcast live on state television across the country, but other candidates have struggled for media access.
The UN has appealed for political parties to avoid inflammatory statements, and to refrain from inciting ethnic and tribal hatred.
The elections are intended to end a post-war transitional period, with the government made up of various warring factions.
But armed men still roam parts of eastern DR Congo, three years after the official end of the five-year conflict.
The last free democratic election was at independence from Belgium in 1960.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/5128486.stm
Published: 2006/06/30 15:14:12 GMT
© BBC MMVI
