News
DR Congo elections update
After a campaign marred by violence between government and opposition supporters, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s chief rivals in national elections were expected to hold final rallies on Saturday in Kinshasa.
Both incumbent President Joseph Kabila and main challenger Etienne Tshisekedi‘s campaigns said on Friday they wanted to hold their last rallies at the capital city’s largest stadium, Stade des Martyrs, adding to tensions that have already triggered several street fights between their supporters.
Local media reports early on Saturday said Tshisekedi would instead hold his rally on a nearby boulevard, but the proximity of the two venues, and another nearby rally planned by a third top presidential contender, ex-national assembly speaker Vital Kamerhe, raised concern in the capital.
“Right now Kinshasa is still calm, but let’s see how this afternoon goes, because all three main presidential candidates are expected in town today,” Dirk Koch, director of international organisation Search for Common Ground, said.
“The latest news, is that they will all be holding their meetings very close to each other, so let’s hope that in the afternoon everything will pass peacefully,” Koch, whose group is running an anti-violence campaign ahead of the elections, told AFP.
The UN Security Council, the European Union and other Western governments have all voiced concern at violence in the run-up to the vote and called for candidates to avoid stirring up their supporters with inflammatory rhetoric.
Tshisekedi’s party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), said he would fly in Saturday morning from the southwestern province of Bas-Congo, promising in a text message: “It will be like Jesus entering Jerusalem! Heart patients, stay away.”
Hundreds of supporters had heeded the call by mid-morning, lining the main road to the airport and stretching campaign banners across it, blocking traffic.
Several big trucks carrying hundreds of supporters were making loops around the Kingasani market near the airport, with crowds of people following behind and trying to climb on board, AFP correspondents said.
