Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging Congo’s government to lift a ban on public demonstrations “to ensure a level playing field for all political actors” in December’s presidential and legislative elections.
The U.N. chief said in a report to the Security Council circulated Monday that lifting the ban on protests would also “greatly contribute to the opening of political space” and allow the Congolese people “to freely exercise their political and civil rights.”
In the report covering electoral developments from March 21 to April 26, Guterres said that “deep-seated mistrust and suspicion” about the electoral process and the pace of progress in implementing confidence-building measures “continue to fuel political tensions.”
Congo has gone through decades of ethnic clashes, rebellions and violence carried out by armed groups and militias trying to control gold and other lucrative resources. The U.N. has had a peacekeeping force in the country since 1999.
Congo’s President Joseph Kabila has been in power since 2001, and the country has simmered with tensions over the long-delayed presidential election, with critics accusing him of trying to cling to power.
Kabila’s mandate ended in December 2016 and under an agreement that month he agreed to set an election by the end of 2017 and release all remaining political prisoners. But elections were delayed again and are now scheduled for Dec. 23.
Guterres said in the report that there had been “a relative decrease in the number of violations of civil and political rights and fundamental freedoms” during the reporting period. But he said at least 86 political prisoners remain in detention, including some named in the December 2016 agreement.
The secretary-general noted that the Independent National Electoral Commission published the final voter registry on April 6 after a review process that removed some 6 million duplicate registrations and individuals too young to vote. He said about 40.3 million people are eligible to vote, half of them women.
But Guterres said the government has not yet published the list of political parties eligible to contest the elections.
Swift publication of the list and platforms “would help address existing suspicions and build trust between political actors and the commission,” he said.
The secretary-general said discussions between the main opposition parties aimed at creating “new political alliances or platforms” are continuing, adding that two parties have called for the opposition to coalesce around a single candidate.
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