OPPOSITION FIGURES in the Democratic Republic of Congo say they intend to call for peaceful rallies this week in protest over the disputed re-election of president Joseph Kabila.
Chief among those calling for the protests is septuagenarian Etienne Tshisekedi who finished second in the poll but rejected the results and declared himself president.
The election results announced on Friday were followed by clashes between security forces and opposition supporters in the capital, Kinshasa, and other parts of Congo. The UN-sponsored Radio Okapi reported six people had been killed in Kinshasa on Saturday. Police said four had died. The city was calm yesterday with reports of sporadic gunfire. Police and military patrolled the streets.
The elections, only the second since the end of a war that claimed the lives of more than five million, have been the focus of increasing criticism amid concerns over irregularities and alleged fraud.
The US-based Carter Centre, which had a team of observers following the elections, said that the provisional results released by the Congolese electoral commission, which is headed by a close ally of Mr Kabila, lacked credibility.
A turnout of more than 100 per cent in Mr Kabila’s home region and the disappearance of results from more than 2,000 polling stations in Kinshasa, long an opposition stronghold, suggested “serious irregularities,” it said.
“It is evident that multiple locations . . . reported impossibly high rates of 99 to 100 per cent voter turnout with all, or nearly all, votes going to incumbent president Joseph Kabila.”
Diaspora Congolese have protested the election results in countries including the UK, the US and Belgium. More than 140 were arrested in London after a protest on Saturday. The previous day 200 were detained in Brussels.