DR Congo: UN mission condemns attacks, calls for restraint ahead of elections

With less than two week to go before the second round of presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations mission has condemned the latest acts of violence and called for restraint as the vast country seeks to cement its transition from a six-year civil war.

At its weekly news briefing yesterday, the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) renewed its call to the political actors to think, above all, about the interests of the Congolese people and avoid acts of violence and hate messages so that the electoral process can be completed successfully and peacefully.

President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, the top candidates in July’s first round, will compete in a presidential run-off on 29 October, the final stage of the largest and most complex elections the UN has ever helped organize and the country’s first free polls in 45 years.

“MONUC is encouraging the Congolese people to carry on with the same discipline and maturity they have demonstrated so far in order to keep the electoral process credible,” the mission said in a news release.

It called on the Congolese to get engaged in positive debates, to vote massively as loyal citizens and accept the outcome of the elections.

With the regard to the post-electoral period, MONUC invited the new government to rule with the best interest of the people in mind and asked opposition parties to play their important role respectfully.