Speed up election programme, Security Council says

A visiting UN Security Council delegation, which is touring Africa's Great Lakes region, has asked the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to speed up its electoral timetable so that elections would be held on time in June 2005.

"A lot has been done, but it is important to accelerate," Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, France's UN ambassador and the head of the visiting UN delegation, told reporters on Monday in the capital, Kinshasa.

The 15-member, high-level delegation met Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Monday on the need to hold elections as scheduled.

The preliminary reforms meant to pave the way for elections have not been approved, except for that which concerns the reunification of the armed forces made up of previously belligerent groups. So far, only the army chief of staff and other senior army command positions have been integrated. Rank-and-file soldiers still give their loyalty to their former militia commanders. Similarly, the police are still not under one command.

In addition, a number of key bills are still to be voted on in parliament, while others are waiting to be promulgated. Laws on the country's constitution, elections and voter registration have not yet been tabled in parliament.

The law on nationality, an issue that has caused bloodshed in the east of the country, has been approved, but not yet published officially - meaning that it cannot go into effect.

"It is not impossible that the electoral commission ask parliament to extend the transition period by six months - plus six months again, thus a year," Appolinaire Malu Malu, a Roman Catholic cleric who heads the Independent Electoral Commission, said.

The UN delegation is due to travel next to Burundi and Uganda. It flew to Congo from Rwanda, which has had a difficult relationship with its western neighbour.

"We've also come to the region to encourage countries to cooperate more with each other," Sabliere said.
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