DRC ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001654

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: DRC ELECTION CAMPAIGN UPDATE



1. (U) Summary: Plans for a debate between President Kabila
and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba have been scrapped
because neither camp could agree on the format for the
encounter. Neither Kabila nor Bemba has personally campaigned
as the official campaign period comes to a close, although
Bemba's MLC party had planned to hold a rally in Kinshasa on
October 27, the final day of the campaign. All election
materials reportedly have been delivered to the country's
voting stations in advance of the October 29 vote. MONUC and
Congolese security officials are continuing their patrols in
Kinshasa and reinforcing their positions elsewhere in the
country. The security situation remains calm, although
scattered incidents of campaign-related violence have been
reported in both the east and west. End summary.


2. (U) The DRC's High Media Authority (HAM) announced October
25 the planned October 26 debate between President Joseph
Kabila and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba will not take
place. HAM President Modeste Mutinga said in a press
conference that because neither candidate's camp could agree
on the format of the debate, the Media Authority would be
unable to organize the event. According to Mutinga, Kabila's
representatives wanted each candidate to be recorded
separately, though responding to the same questions from the
same journalists. Bemba's camp had wanted a one-on-one debate
to be moderated by a pre-selected panel of journalists.


3. (U) The proposed debate would have been one of the only
second-round campaign appearances by either Kabila or Bemba.
Neither candidate has left Kinshasa in October, leaving the
work of campaigning in the provinces to others. Olive Kabila,
the president's wife, just completed a country-wide tour on
her husband's behalf, visiting the provinces of Orientale,
North and South Kivu, and Katanga, as well as Eastern and
Western Kasai. Bemba has been represented by his father, who
is currently campaigning for him in Orientale province.
High-ranking party and government officials have also been
busily stumping for both candidates throughout the country.
The official campaign period ends at midnight October 27.


4. (SBU) Bemba-controlled television station CCTV had
announced the Vice President would hold a Kinshasa rally
October 27 at Tata Raphael stadium, where violence occurred
after a similar event July 27 in the run-up to first-round
elections on July 30. A senior official of Bemba's Movement
for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) indicated October 26 the
party has canceled the rally but we are awaiting final
confirmation. A youth group supporting Bemba and his Union
for the Nation coalition marched through the streets of
Kinshasa October 25 without any major incident.


5. (U) MONUC deputy spokesman Jean-Tobie Okala said October
25 that all election kits have been delivered to the 50,045
polling sites across the country. Each kit contains the
entire set-up material for a polling station, including
ballot boxes, voting booths, tally sheets, and ballots. Okala
said the delivery of material was especially difficult for
the second round as much of the country is in the rainy
season, thereby making many roads impassable.


6. (U) Several minor incidents of campaign-related violence
have been reported in the past few days. In Equateur
province, Radio Okapi reported that Kabila ally Nzanga Mobutu
was stoned by protesters while holding a campaign meeting in
Yakoma. Partisans of Bemba and Kabila engaged in fistfights
and rock-throwing in the Bandundu city of Kikwit. Police were
eventually called in to disperse the crowds and fired warning
shots into the air. Kikwit's mayor has called for both sides
to restrain their supporters in the last days of the
campaign. Radio Okapi also reported that in Katanga province
a stock of Bemba posters being stored at the Kamina airport
was destroyed in a fire.


7. (U) Bemba's deputy campaign director Pastor Theodore Ngoy
was harassed again while campaigning in Lubumbashi October

24. While driving to a campaign meeting, Radio Okapi reported
that a crowd of presumed pro-Kabila supporters stoned his
convoy and later set fire to Ngoy's meeting place. Several
people were reportedly injured during the incidents. MLC
supporters also were reported to have defaced and burned
Kabila posters in the city.


8. (U) MONUC military spokesman Lt. Col. Stephane Lescoffit
said that MONUC and EUFOR, in cooperation with Congolese
police and military units, are continuing to monitor the
security situation. Lescoffit said joint security patrols to

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reduce weapons circulation in Kinshasa are still active. To
date the "weapons-free Kinshasa" patrols have been
instrumental in the arrests of 140 people and the
confiscation of 34 weapons. MONUC military observers in
Kinshasa monitoring military camps and installations have
reported no unusual activity. In Ituri District, MONUC
peacekeepers have deployed several mobile operating bases in
the region to ensure that MONUC forces can respond
immediately to any possible violence.
MEECE