DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Supporters of Congolese former rebel chief Jean-Pierra Bemba attack Congo court in poll protest

Record ID: 374905

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Supporters of Congolese former rebel chief Jean-Pierra Bemba attack Congo court in poll protest
  • Date: 22nd November 2006
  • Summary: (W3) KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (NOVEMBER 21, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SUPREME COURT ON FIRE EUPOL(EUFOR POLICE) JEEP ON FIRE WITH BEMBA MILITANTS THROWING THINGS IN FIRE IN BACKGROUND CONGOLESE POLICE BUS ON FIRE UN TANKS DRIVING FAST AROUND PLACE OF JUSTICE IN FRONT OF SUPREME COURT UN TANKS IN POSITION UN JEEPS EVACUATING PEOPLE WHO WHERE INSIDE THE COU
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABI0ZE7W0H77RFC4GQTKSUNSY3
  • Story Text: Supporters of Congolese former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba attacked the Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 21) when they rioted in protest at results showing he had lost a presidential election.
    Police had fired tear gas at several hundred Bemba supporters earlier on Tuesday.
    Suddenly, intense automatic rifle fire broke out, causing panic and chaos and sending black-robed judges and court staff fleeing from the building.
    One of the deputies evacuated by UN forces said, "We were invited there to see the audience about electoral matters. We have been interrupted by gunfire. The audience has been suspended and we can't go out, it is really insecure."
    After initially pulling back when the shooting began, white-painted United Nations armoured vehicles fired warning shots to keep back the Bemba followers who stoned them and set fire to police trucks.
    It was not immediately clear who started shooting but fighters loyal to Bemba had sub-machine guns at the scene.
    The protest in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital turned violent after Bemba filed a challenge to the Supreme Court at the weekend against provisional results which showed he had lost last month's election to incumbent President Joseph Kabila.
    He has alleged "systematic cheating" in the October 29 run-off, in Congo's first free elections in more than 40 years. They were aimed at ending years of dictatorship, war and chaos in the former Belgian colony.
    Following the filing of Bemba's complaint on Saturday (November 18), the Supreme Court had eight days within which to respond.
    The provisional election result, which gave 58.05 percent of the votes to Kabila, against 41.95 percent for Bemba, must be confirmed by the Supreme Court for it to become valid.
    After order was restored by UN and European Union peacekeeping troops, an eye witness saw a big pile of burning documents in the ransacked main courtroom of the Supreme Court. Firemen fought a blaze which sent up thick plumes of smoke from one side of the court building.
    It was the first serious violence in the capital Kinshasa since the provisional result was announced, although there have been reports of violence up the Congo river from Kinshasa.
    The October 29 vote was generally peaceful in the mineral-rich central African state, although supporters of Bemba and Kabila fought gunbattles in Kinshasa earlier this month and in August.
    UN officials had on Monday reported that more than 2,000 civilians had fled across the Congo river to escape election-related violence in western Bandundu province, about 280 km (175 miles) upriver from Kinshasa.
    The elections crowned a peace process that ended a 1998-2003 war. The conflict triggered a humanitarian crisis that has killed over 4 million Congolese through violence, hunger and disease.
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