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Congolese Leaders recommit themselves to peaceful Elections
and respecting Outcome of Sunday Elections, 29 October 2006 Kinshasa -
The leader of the South African Observer Mission (SAOM) to elections in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George has welcomed
the signing today, 28 October 2006 of a Joint Communiqu?owards respecting the
outcome of the DRC poll, by representatives of President Joseph Kabila and Vice-President
Jean Pierre Bemba. Deputy Minister Mluleki George, described the signing
on the eve of the historic second round of elections in the DRC as an "encouraging
development and a clear demonstration by the Congolese leadership of their desire
to embrace democracy and navigate their country towards a peaceful future."
The Joint Communiqu?whose signing was witnessed by the chairperson of the
DRC Independent Electoral Commission and a host of international observers to
the DRC elections including, the African Union (AU), Southern African Development
Community (SADC), the South African Observer Mission (SAOM) and the European Union
(EU) agreed on the following: - transparency of the technical preparations
for the elections
- guarantees that each candidate had 200 000 accredited
agents for the current elections
- voter education programme was well conducted.
In this regard, with the signing of the Joint Communiqu?etween representatives
of President Kabila and Vice-President Bemba, they committed themselves, on behalf
of their leaders and supporters to: - guarantee peace and security
during and beyond elections
- promote acceptance of the results
-
mobilisation of the population to massively participate in the elections
-
respect procedures attendant to the announcement of the election results.
President
Kabila and Vice-President Bemba had earlier in the week, in meetings with SADC
individually committed themselves to a peaceful election campaign and accepting
the outcome of the second round of elections, in which the two leaders are the
only contestants. Meanwhile, the leader of the 108-member SAOM, Deputy
Minister Mluleki George, has again expressed satisfaction with preparations for
the elections and confirmed that all voting material has been delivered and is
ready for use. The SAOM which arrived in the DRC on Saturday, 21 October
2006, will return to South Africa on Thursday, 2 November 2006, having observed
all phases of the elections, including the election campaigns, which ended on
Friday, 27 October 2006, the voting process beginning Sunday, 28 October 2006
and the counting of ballots immediately thereafter. For details please
contact:
Vincent Hlongwane
Cell: 082 385 1169 Issued by: Department
of Foreign Affairs
29 October 2006 | 
