Ethiopian Review

The African Union will send about 30 observers to monitor presidential elections in the Republic of Congo on Sunday, Foreign Minister Basile Ikouebe said.

The “observers (…) are going to come from all over: about 30 accredited from the African Union, as well as several supervisors from the Francophonie,” Ikouebe said Monday, referring to the international organisation of French-speaking nations.

“The European Union has informed us that its ambassador in the Congo is responsible for observing the election on its behalf,” he told a news briefing in Brazzaville.

The first round of the election will see 12 candidates seeking to unseat President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who led the Congo between 1979 and 1992, before returning to power in 1997 after a civil war.

In 2002, he was elected in a vote that fell short of democratic standards, international observers found.

His main rival this time is former finance minister Mathias Dzon, who held that post from 1998 to 2002.

Ikouebe said that at the African Union summit in Libya last week, several African heads of state “told me they were counting on the leadership of President Denis Sassou Nguesso to ensure that the election takes place in good conditions”.

The opposition contends that the Commission for the Organisation of the Elections (CONEL) is biased. The opposition cried foul in the last elections organised by the CONEL. AU observers also denounced irregularities and fraud.

Last month, a delegation of members of the European Parliament visited Brazzaville, but Patrick Gaubert, vice chairman of the EU assembly’s human rights subcommittee, said on June 21 that the EU would send no observers on Sunday.

The executive European Commission “told us that this election is not a priority”, he added.

- AFP