Dozens of troops on Wednesday guarded the Supreme Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prevent further violent protests while judges considered an opposition challenge to election results.
The capital, Kinshasa, was calm after Tuesday’s clashes, which pitted riot police and United Nations peacekeeping troops against supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, who lost a presidential poll last month on the final provisional results.
”No incidents were reported during the night. We have resumed our patrols,” Lieutenant Colonel Thierry Fusalba of a European Union military force deployed to back the UN mission in DRC (Monuc) told the media.
Troops of the new DRC army, which is still being formed after the war that ravaged the vast country from 1998 to 2003, stood guard over the main Supreme Court building, which was partly looted and burned by the rioters.
Three UN armoured cars were posted over the road, part of a joint Monuc-DRC army taskforce that was set up ”until further notice”, according to an announcement after the riots by army chief of staff General Gabriel Amisi.
”We are there. It’s calm, but we’ll intervene if there is new provocation and if firearms are used again in the city,” said a Congolese army officer who asked not to be named.
During Tuesday’s violence — which began with a protest at the Supreme Court by about 200 Bemba supporters — members of Bemba’s armed guard at his residence, not far from the court premises in central Kinshasa, opened fire on riot police.
No casualties were reported, but the presence in the city of about 1 000 soldiers loyal to Bemba has increased tension before and since the election. In August, at least 23 people died when they battled Kabila’s presidential guard.
Bemba filed a suit on Saturday to contest results given by the Independent Electoral Commission after his defeat in the October 29 election by President Joseph Kabila, who has for three years headed a transitional government in which Bemba became one of four vice-presidents.
According to the commission, Kabila took 58% of the votes against 42% for Bemba, but the wealthy businessman and former rebel and his aides have pointed to irregularities in the poll and ballot count.
The Supreme Court had a week to consider Bemba’s case once he presented his challenge before it last weekend. — Sapa-AFP