IEC willing to help DRC with national poll

South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) on Wednesday said it would help prepare the ground for a general election in the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) next year, provided similar bodies in the region contributed to the effort.

IEC Commissioner Thoko Mpumlwana told IRIN that a team from the IEC had spent two weeks in the DRC to assess ways in which they could assist in staging the national poll, scheduled for July 2005.

"There have been talks between the IEC members and their counterparts to determine the level of cooperation needed to run the election, but the IEC has maintained that we will only get involved if other SADC [Southern African Development Community] election bodies also get involved," Mpumlwana said.

Preparing for the ballot is expected to present a daunting challenge to election officials, given the logistical arrangements needed to cover one of the biggest countries in Africa.

"We need just about every form of assistance - from experience to material help. This will be our first real election, so we want to make sure that it is free and fair," said Rene Sola, the DRC's finance and economic attaché in South Africa.

He noted that SADC countries would be expected to assist with voter registration and drawing up an elections policy framework.

After months of stop-start negotiations, known as the inter-Congolese dialogue, warring parties signed an agreement in 2002, which will culminate in the country's first elections since its independence from Belgium in 1960.

Meanwhile, South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in the DRC this week amid a spiralling political crisis threatening to undo the fragile peace process. Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa, one of the main wartime rebel group leaders, last week led a walk-out of the transitional government over claims the peace process was stymied amid ethnic killings.