Congo's Kabila pledges to honour poll calendar
Monday December 11 2017
DR Congo President Joseph Kabila. According to the calendar, elections in the DR Congo are due on December 23, 2018. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila has pledged to honour his country's new electoral calendar, media confirmed.
The state-owned Jornal de Angola quoted Congolese Foreign minister Manuel Augusto conveying President Kabila's message to a leader's meeting in Brazzaville.
“The tripartite summit (DRC, Republic of Congo and Angola) has taken place because Angola and Congolese Presidents wanted to get their DR Congo counterpart's assurance that the new calendar would be accomplished to avoid instability,” Jornal de Angola quoted Mr Augusto saying.
ICGRL bloc
“It is necessary to assure the DR Congolese nationals and the international community that this time around the calendar will be accomplished,” Mr Augusto was further quoted.
According to the calendar, elections in the DR Congo are due on December 23, 2018.
DR Congo, Angola and the Republic of Congo leaders met Saturday in the latter's capital for their International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) routine consultations.
Congo took over the ICGRL presidency from Angola in October.
The ICGRL bloc comprises 12 states, namely; Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
Opposition groups
Joseph Kabila became president after his father Laurent Kabila was assassinated in 2001. He was elected in 2006 and secured another term in a controversial election in 2011.
His second and final term officially ended in December 2016, but elections failed to be held. Pro-government and opposition groups agreed to a deal brokered by the influential Roman Catholic Church that sought to avert a full-fledged crisis.
Under the deal, President Kabila would remain in office until elections in late 2017, ruling in tandem with a transitional watchdog and a new premier chosen from within the ranks of the opposition.
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