Greene County Democrat

Tag: President Félix Tshisekedi

  • Newswire: Opposition seeks rerun of Congo election, calling returns flawed

    President Felix Tshisekedi

    Jan. 1, 2024 (GIN) – Preliminary election results announced in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa have sparked demands by members of the opposition for a rerun.

    According to the country’s election commission, Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi handily won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, crushing the runner-ups by a wide majority.

    Some 18 million people or 40% of the population voted. Massive logistical problems put the validity of the outcome into question.
    About two-thirds of polling stations opened late, while 30% of voting machines did not work on the first day of the vote, according to an observer group.

    Millions of people waited for hours before they were able to vote, while some gave up and went home.

    The results will be sent to the constitutional court for confirmation, said election chief Denis Kadima. He acknowledged some irregularities but insisted that the results reflected the will of the Congolese people.

    On Sunday, nine opposition candidates, including Denis Mukwege, Martin Fayulu and Moises Katumbi signed a declaration rejecting what they termed a “sham” election and called for a rerun.

    “We call on our people to take to the streets en masse after the proclamation of the electoral fraud,” they said in a joint statement.

    “We categorically reject the sham election … and its results.”
    The army has been deployed in various parts of the capital, Kinshasa, to prevent any unrest, while Mr Tshisekedi’s supporters have taken to the streets to celebrate.

    The head of the election commission said the opposition candidates wanted a new election because “they know they lost… they are bad losers”.

    Meanwhile, Mr Tshisekedi repeatedly lashed out at Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who he accuses of backing the M23 rebel group which has seized territory in the east of the country. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the charges.

    In his last election rally, Mr Tshisekedi vowed to declare war on Rwanda, although observers dismissed this as rhetoric aimed at whipping up nationalist sentiment.

  • Newswire: Thousands in path of erupting volcano in Congo flee to Rwanda

    People fleeing volcano in Congo

     May 24, 2021 (GIN) – An erupting mountain of fiery red flames from one of the world’s most active and dangerous volcanoes shook residents of the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, sparking a panicked exodus by thousands to neighboring Rwanda.   A din of people and honking horns could be heard in videos taken early Sunday of the red-glowing eruption shared on social media. More than 3,500 Congolese people sought refuge across the border in Rwanda, officials said.   Although the country’s government said that an evacuation plan had been activated, the official announcement came hours after the sky turned a fiery red on Saturday, the Associated Press reported, after many had already taken it upon themselves to flee.   Fifteen deaths have been confirmed but the number is expected to rise as officials reach the hardest-hit areas. More than 170 children are feared missing and 150 separated from their families, according to Unicef.   Local journalists reported the still-smoking molten rock reached the city’s airport but stopped just short of the outskirts of Goma, a picturesque lakeside city that is eastern Congo’s hub for trade and transport, averting greater disaster.   The last eruption in January 2002 with swift-moving lava and its accompanying carbon dioxide fumes left hundreds dead and more than 100,000 homeless.    Back in March, increased volcanic activity and other indicators had experts at the Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG) worried that another eruption could be on the way.   But after the World Bank declined to renew a four year, $2 million funding program saying the OVG “lacked experience” and amid embezzlement allegations, volcanologist Honore Ciraba and colleagues at the Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG) said they were struggling to make even basic checks while lacking an internet connection.   “If we don’t do regular measurements and announce the eruption a few days beforehand, the population won’t have time to evacuate and people will die,” said Ciraba, 65, who’s devoted his life to trudging up the 3,470m cone to study its activity.   Volcano expert Robin George Andrews said  one of the reasons Nyiragongo is so dangerous is that its lava is very fluid and fast, so fast that it can catch up to speeding cars. Volcanoes in this region also “belch out” a lot of carbon dioxide, he said, which sinks downslope and kills anyone engulfed by it, he said.   Hundreds of houses have been destroyed and according to CNN, five schools have been decimated. At some sites, flames were three stories high, consuming large buildings and sending smoke into the sky.   “There’s no doubt Nyiragongo is still the most dangerous volcano in the world,” said Dario Tedesco, an Italian volcanologist based in Goma.   President Félix Tshisekedi, who has been in Europe since the beginning of the week, is expected back home Sunday.