Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Fides Service)- The international community has confirmed its commitment to support general elections in DR Congo on 18 June. The head of MONUC the UN Mission in Congo Jean-Marie Guehenno said there is sufficient stability for a regular election.
In DR Congo MONUC has 17,000 peacekeepers whose main job is to disarm militia in the east of the country. In fact the situation in the east is the main concern with regard to a peaceful vote. According the United Nations regional news agency IRIN the most doubtful areas are Katanga, north and south Kivu and Ituri where attempts to disarm militia have failed. In the north eastern region of Ituri the army and MONUC led several military operations to force the militia to lay down their arms.
The results were only partial and several areas still escape government control. International determination to promote respect for human rights in DR Congo was confirmed with the remand to the international penal court at The Hague of Thomas Lubanga of former leader of the Congolese Patriotic Union a militia group which operates in Ituri accused of forced recruitment of children.
IRIN experts speak of persisting difficulty to form a new unified army with men of President Kabila’s regular army and militia troops which fought in the civil war. Under paid or unpaid military have repeatedly extorted money from civilians instead of protecting them, as members of the Catholic church in Katanga have reported (see Fides 17 February 2006).
Another problem which could affect the election according to IRIN is that the country lacks a solid tradition of democracy. For most people this will be the first ever democratic election. An encouraging sign was however the constitutional referendum last December which approved the new national Constitution. The local Church had worked hard to promote civil education among the people. After helping people to understand the importance of the referendum now the Church is promoting awareness in view of elections to enable all eligible voters to fulfil their right and duty. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 18/3/2006 righe 36 parole 421)
