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Poll fraud accusations raise Congo tensions

10 Nov 2006 17:39:48 GMT
Source: Reuters

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A policeman walks past election results in the capital Kinshasa November 10, 2006. Accusations of serious fraud from one camp in Congo's historic elections are raising tensions as peacekeepers try to avoid further violence, diplomats and observers said on Friday.
REUTERS/GORAN TOMASEVIC

Background

• Congo (DR) conflict

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(Adds candidates' pledge, par 7, detail par 14)

By David Lewis

KINSHASA, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Accusations of serious fraud from one camp in Congo's historic elections are raising tensions as peacekeepers try to avoid further violence, diplomats and observers said on Friday.

The latest partial results published by Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral commission point to Jean-Pierre Bemba cutting into the lead of President Joseph Kabila, who has around 60 percent with nearly two thirds of results processed.

However, Bemba's camp has publicly complained twice this week about "systematic" errors amounting to a "policy of cheating" in the compilation of results, stirring fears some may reject polls meant to draw a line under a decade of war.

"Given the sensitive political situation, it's unhelpful to have candidates brandishing allegations publicly before they can be responded to by the election commission," Colin Stewart, a co-director of the U.S. Carter Center in Congo, told Reuters.

A pamphlet circulated on the streets of the mostly pro-Bemba capital Kinshasa accuses the electoral commission of cheating and urges the population to reject the result. Officials in Bemba's camp said they had nothing to do with the document.

Some supporters gathered in small crowds and burnt tyres near Bemba's television station on Friday morning, but later dispersed as riot police units moved into the area.

In the latest effort to ensure calm, both candidates' camps vowed on Friday not to use or try to manipulate Congo's police or armed forces, which are supposed to be apolitical.

The Oct. 29 vote was the last stage in Congo's first free elections for more than 40 years and the culmination of a peace process that has taken years and cost billions of dollars to try and end the Democratic Republic of Congo's 1998-2003 war.

The conflict sparked a humanitarian crisis that has killed more than 4 million people.

PROBLEMS, FEARS

Bemba's coalition has complained of several irregularities, discrepancies between results they compiled and those published, vast numbers of people voting even though they weren't on lists and the harassment of their witnesses at polling stations.

"We know there have been some problems but we don't know how widespread they are or what impact they could have on the results," Stewart said.

Kabila's and Bemba's private armies fought several days of battles in Kinshasa in August around the time first-round results were announced.

U.N. and EU peacekeepers have stepped up patrols and fortified gun positions in the city's streets ahead of the second-round results, hoping to avoid any more violence.

Following the first round of voting, the Carter Center said there had been irregularities but they would not have changed the results due to the wide margins between candidates' tallies.

However, after the run-off, international monitors warned the result could be close, increasing the chances of a dispute.

"The level of tolerance for irregularities lowers as the results get closer," the Carter Center's Stewart said.

A Western diplomat said much depended on how Bemba's complaints were dealt with.

"We have to put him in a position where all his complaints have been taken into account," the diplomat said.

"What he will probably do would be to allow a head of steam to build up in Kinshasa amongst people who are disappointed with Bemba failing to win," the diplomat said.

"Yes, it is beginning to worry people."

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Last updated:Fri Nov 10 17:40:42 2006