Saturday, July 29, 2006

DRC: Election Day: Update 1



I wanted to call your attention to this very informative piece from the BBC:
BBC NEWS | Africa | Congo: The trickiest election ever?:

"Election workers in Democratic Republic of Congo are putting the finishing touches to possibly the most complex and challenging elections the world has ever seen.

Helicopters, canoes, motorbikes and porters have been used to transport election material to almost 50,000 polling stations across a country two-thirds the size of western Europe, with just 300 miles of paved roads."
Read the whole thing. Also, I am a bit thrown aback (is that how it is spelled?) by declarations by infamous Army deserter and rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda, on how he is ready to do whatever is necessary, militarily, to take down anyone elected in a way that he deems unfair, or if he feels that the person is not there for "All the Congolese people" - understand, if the new leader does not cater to the Tutsi community. The fact that we know where this... "dude" (subsitute with appropriate expletive) is, and he is still free, and spreading his terror, despite an international warrant for his arrest, is beyond me.

Additionally, the 3 VPs running for President have expressed some concerns over the validity of the elections, following the killing of one their own's bodyguargs by an element of the Republican Guard (Presidential Guard, loyal to President Kabila).

Finally, keep watching the Reporter's log, at the BBC.

Still watching.

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