Annan presses Congo leaders on 2005 election vow

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17 Mar 2005 00:39:07 GMT
Reuters
By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (Reuters) - Threatened delays in
promised 2005 elections in Congo are unnerving a people
hungry for stability well after the end of a long and bloody
civil war, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on
Wednesday.

"The holding of elections, and ensuring stable governance
thereafter, are now the key issues in the Democratic Republic
of Congo," Annan said, urging the transitional government in
Africa's third-largest country to "make concrete and visible
progress toward the holding of elections."

Most important, adopting a draft constitution and electoral
laws and starting to register voters would be "concrete signs
that will provide much needed confidence in the transitional
process and its leaders," he said in his latest progress
report on the peace process in Congo.

Talk of a possible election postponement led to street
protests earlier this year in a country still reeling from a
five-year civil war that drew in six nations and killed
nearly 4 million people, mainly from hunger and disease.
Election dates have yet to be set.

While the war ended in a 2003 peace agreement, parts of the
country are still plagued by violent clashes among militias,
armed tribal groups and undisciplined government soldiers.

Civilians are the frequent target of attacks, and human
rights abuses remain widespread, Annan said in the report,
prepared for submission to the U.N. Security Council.

The U.N. mission in Congo was recently expanded to 16,700
troops, making it the world's largest peacekeeping operation.

It has stepped up its operations in lawless eastern Congo
after militia fighters blamed for hundreds of civilian deaths
in the region turned their guns on peacekeepers last month.

Annan lamented the government had yet to identify and arrest
those responsible for a premeditated Feb. 25 attack in Ituri
that killed nine U.N. soldiers from Bangladesh.

"Immediate action is required and no delay can be excused,"
he said.

The mission also badly embarrassed the United Nations when
peacekeepers were found to have sexually abused women and
girls, prompting regulations barring them from social contact
with all Congolese.

Annan said a new U.N. unit in Congo would focus on additional
preventive measures and assistance to victims while
continuing to investigate sexual abuse allegations.