DRC ELECTION AUTHORITIES SEEKS TO AVOID ABUSE OF PARTIAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001701

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KPAO CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: DRC ELECTION AUTHORITIES SEEKS TO AVOID ABUSE OF PARTIAL
ELECTION RESULTS

REF: KINSHASA 1689

Sensitive but Unclassified. Not for Internet Distribution.


1. (SBU) Summary: Representatives of presidential candidates Kabila
and Bemba signed an agreement November 1 not to publish partial
election results. Two newspapers have been suspended by the High
Media Authority (HAM) for abusive extrapolation of partial results.
HAM President Mutinga has reportedly lowered his profile in the face
of apparent threats. Despite the efforts of many, including our
Embassy, it will be hard to keep the genie of provocative election
results in the bottle. End Summary

The CEI/HAM Agreement on (Not) Reporting Results
-------------- ---


2. (U) Representatives of presidential candidates President Joseph
Kabila and Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba signed an agreement
November 1 pledging to avoid publication of partial election
results. Kabila advisers Samba Kaputo and Marcellin Cishambo signed
for the president, and MLC officials Jean Lucien Bussa and Romain
Nimy signed for Bemba. Also signing the agreement were the
president of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) Apollinaire
Malu Malu, and the president of the High Media Authority (HAM)
Modeste Mutinga. They did so in the presence of DSRSG Ross
Mountain.


3. (U) The agreement also reminds political and social groups that
they are proscribed from extrapolating from partial results to
announce the victory of either (presidential) candidate, before the
CEI officially announces provisional results (expected before
November 19).

HAM Action to Keep the Genie in the Bottle
--------------


4. (U) On November 1 and 2, the HAM suspended two Kinshasa
newspapers for 30 days, respectively, pro-UDPS Alerte Plus, for
headlining that Bemba had won and taken power, and Top Info for
publishing made-up results.


5. (SBU) An electronic journal called Congoindependant.com,
published in Brussels by a group of Congolese journalists, has also
published at least one article extrapolating a victory for
Jean-Pierre Bemba, based on a seemingly scientific sampling of
partial results. The article's statistics have been picked up by an
unidentified source, who is sending them out via text messages to
the DRC. It attributes the statistics to the U.S. Embassy. (Note:
Immediately after the first round of elections, July 30, crude
tracts appeared in Kinshasa with bogus results attributed to both
USAID and Vatican Radio. End note.)


6. (SBU) Meanwhile, the president of the High Media Authority,
Modeste Mutinga, has been obliged to take some evasive action in
response to reported threats made against him. International media
NGO PANOS is paying for extra security and lodgings elsewhere in
town for Mutinga. PANOS and the French Embassy report that the
threats seem to be prompted by the fact that the HAM (despite
considerable effort on its part) was not able to organize a
televised debate between Kabila and Bemba. Another reason is said to
be the HAM's failure to get state television RTNC to air a promised
interview with Bemba on October 27 (reftel). Mutinga reportedly
takes some pride in the fact that the resulting suspension he
imposed on RTNC is yet another reason for threats, these coming from
the other side of the political spectrum.


7. (U) At the request of the CEI, PAO formally addressed 100
journalists October 24, at the CEI press center, on their
responsibilities with respect to the handling of partial election
results, a subject we have covered in several of our Embassy's many
workshops for journalists throughout the country this year. HAM
president Mutinga reiterated the message at the signing ceremony on
November 1.


8. (SBU) Comment: Journalists by and large seek, sometimes
valiantly, to exercise restraint and responsibility in handling
partial election results. Those working for partisan media
especially complain to us that their political paymasters have other
ideas, however. In the DRC, political campaigning seems curiously
to be more a post-election phenomenon. Political pressures are such,
therefore, that some partial election results will be published
prematurely and/or erroneously, notwithstanding the November 1
agreement. Once the CEI starts to publish confirmed partial results
on its website, which we expect to happen soon, the manipulation of
bogus partial results will dissipate. Tension over the outcome,

KINSHASA 00001701 002 OF 002


however, will not. End comment.
MEECE