The vote that nobody wins

Hugely expensive, massively complex, extremely dangerous, the polls will go ahead anyway

The first votes in Congo's long awaited election process are to be cast on 30 July. The polls, costing some US$500 million, are unlikely to bring the stability hoped for, since the losers may reject the results and the army, still unpaid, will have little incentive to remain disciplined. Many of these risks could have been reduced had the election schedule and structure been better designed and had the foreign funders - the European Union, United States and United Nations - not been so keen to rush for the door.

Article Tags:
United States, Joseph Kabila, Aldo Ajello, Australia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Congo-Brazzaville, Gédeon, Zambia, Ugandan, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Controversy and boycott, Laurent Monsengwo, Apollinaire Malu Malu, Etienne Tshisekedi wa Malumba, Sudan, Valentin Mubake, Belgian, Armand de Decker, Jean-Baptiste Bomanza, Louis Michel, François Tshipamba Mpuila, Rwandan, French, Jean-Marc de la Sablière, Côte d'Ivoire, Henri Bentégeat, Olivier Kamitatu, Jean-Tobie Okala, Patrick Cammaert, Dutch, Ngoy Mulanda, Jean-Pierre Bemba, Commission Electorale Indépendante, Mission des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo, Parti du Peuple pour la Reconstruction et le Développement, Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social, Forces Novatrices pour l'Union et la Solidarité, les jeux sont faits, esclavagiste, prédateur, Alliance pour le Renouveau du Congo, Commission Nationale de la Démobilisation et de la Réinsertion

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