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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Elections possible in 2005, UN official says

NAIROBI, 14 January 2004 (IRIN) - Despite delays in the legislature, general elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could still be held in 2005 in line with last year's all-inclusive peace agreement that ended nearly five years of war in the central African country, a high-ranking UN official said on Monday.

"Most of the laws governing the conduct of elections remain to be enacted," William Swing, head of the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), said.

He said the start of the electoral campaign, marking the end of transitional rule, would depend on the government's programme and on political goodwill.

Swing's comments were reproduced in a communiqué MONUC released on his meeting with the Congo's Parliamentary Committee on External Relations, Defence and Security, in the presence of a visiting Belgian parliamentary delegation.

He said that the question of refugees and internally displaced people, the presence of foreign armed groups in the DRC and the demobilisation of local armed groups were obstacles that must be overcome if proper elections were to be held.

He described MONUC's mission as one to encourage good governance, stabilise the region, organise democratic elections, establish the rule of law and improve the people's quality of life.

Expanding on the programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate fighters into civil life, Swing said at least 5,000 former fighters from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda - and their dependants - had been repatriated. The number of voluntary repatriations, he said, could double in the coming months.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Governance

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