Idriss Déby Itno seemed assured on Thursday of re-election as Chad’s president, but the expected victory has already been clouded by new threats of violence by armed rebels in the desert country. Independent observers said the poll itself on Wednesday drew a low turnout following a boycott call by the opposition amid charges of vote-rigging.
Chadian rebels who advanced on the capital in a fleet of brand-new Toyotas had clear support from Sudan, which wants to replace President Idriss Déby Itno with a pro-Sudanese leader, diplomats and human rights groups here said on Tuesday.
As Ethiopia prepares for weekend elections, its human rights record has come under increasing criticism from watchdogs who believe the poll has already been marred by myriad abuses. Human Rights Watch accused Addis Ababa of taking advantage of a fight against the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front to justify the torture, imprisonment and sustained harassment of its critics.
Government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) took back the eastern provincial capital of Bukavu without a fight on Wednesday, to the jubilation of residents, a week after the regular army was chased out by renegade troops. Residents of Bukavu danced in the streets, banging drums and cooking pots.
Dissident troops who this week overran the east Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town of Bukavu were gathering in and around the town Friday, a day after their leader promised to pull them out entirely. The soldiers were assembling at strategic points to defend the town they captured on Wednesday, their commander said.
Kinshasa paralysed by lack of transport
UN troops kill two in DRC riots
President Joseph Kabila accused neighbouring Rwanda of being behind the renegade soldiers who on Wednesday captured a provincial capital in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Bukavu, the capital of Sud-Kivu province, fell to renegade troops led by two generals from the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), a former Rwandan-backed rebel group that is now represented in the transitional government in Kinshasa under the terms of a 2003 peace deal.
The peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) suffered a major blow on Wednesday when renegade soldiers captured a provincial capital in the volatile east of the country. During the DRC’s 1998 to 2003 civil war the town, Bukavu, was a stronghold of the Congolese Rally for Democracy.
Heavy fighting in Bukavu
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/ 13 November 2003
After raping teenaged Marie, three uniformed soldiers left her in a forest in Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province, where sexual violence is widespread. ”With the war, it was impossible to get to a hospital,” recalled the 17-year-old, between sobs brought on by the memory.