The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Joseph
Kabila has pledged to honour his country's new electoral calendar, media
confirmed.
The state-owned Jornal de Angola quoted Congolese Foreign minister Manuel Augusto conveying President Kabila's message to a leader's meeting in Brazzaville.
“The
tripartite summit (DRC, Republic of Congo and Angola) has taken place
because Angola and Congolese Presidents wanted to get their DR Congo
counterpart's assurance that the new calendar would be accomplished to
avoid instability,” Jornal de Angola quoted Mr Augusto saying.
ICGRL bloc
“It
is necessary to assure the DR Congolese nationals and the international
community that this time around the calendar will be accomplished,” Mr
Augusto was further quoted.
According to the calendar, elections in the DR Congo are due on December 23, 2018.
DR
Congo, Angola and the Republic of Congo leaders met Saturday in the
latter's capital for their International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region (ICGLR) routine consultations.
Congo took over the ICGRL presidency from Angola in October.
The
ICGRL bloc comprises 12 states, namely; Angola, Burundi, the Central
African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan,
South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
Opposition groups
Joseph
Kabila became president after his father Laurent Kabila was
assassinated in 2001. He was elected in 2006 and secured another term in
a controversial election in 2011.
His second and
final term officially ended in December 2016, but elections failed to be
held. Pro-government and opposition groups agreed to a deal brokered by
the influential Roman Catholic Church that sought to avert a
full-fledged crisis.
Under the deal, President Kabila
would remain in office until elections in late 2017, ruling in tandem
with a transitional watchdog and a new premier chosen from within the
ranks of the opposition.
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