DR Congo presidential contenders meet face-to-face, UN mission reports

The two leading presidential candidates who emerged from July’s historic elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today met face to face for the first time since their supporters engaged in deadly clashes last month, according to the UN mission in the embattled central African country.

The mission, known by its French acronym MONUC, reported that President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba shook hands twice before the cameras during a meeting of President Kabila and his vice presidents.

While MONUC characterized the atmosphere as “relaxed and conciliatory,” it noted that the men did not make any public declarations.

The meeting comes after the sustained efforts of MONUC and the international community to bring the two men together. Several foreign dignitaries, including the European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, had travelled to the DRC in recent days to urge the two candidates to meet.

Neither Mr. Bemba nor Mr. Kabila won a majority in the July vote, the country’s first free and fair elections in more than 40 years. They will now face each other in runoff elections on 29 October.

“We are working very seriously with all concerned to ensure that the second round moves ahead as smoothly as the first round, and that the parties and the political leaders play by the rules of the game, and accept the results regardless of who wins,” said Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a news conference in New York today.

In other news, MONUC said it remained concerned about the large number of weapons on the streets of the capital, Kinshasa.

At a press briefing today, Deputy MONUC spokesperson Jean-Tobie Okala said that the large circulation of arms and men with arms around the city “was not good” for the electoral process.

He called on all of those involved to step up their efforts to disarm and for an acceleration of the retraining and integration of militia forces into the national Army.