The Latest: AU delegation to Congo to depart on Monday
Posted January 18, 2019 4:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KINSHASA, Congo — The Latest on Congo’s disputed presidential election (all times local):
10:05 a.m.
An African Union spokeswoman says a high-level delegation is leaving on Monday for Congo after the continental body’s surprise request to suspend the announcement of final election results. The AU cited “serious doubts” about the vote and said it would “urgently dispatch” a delegation.
Ebba Kalondo confirmed the delegation’s departure date to The Associated Press. It will include heads of state.
Congo’s constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge to the presidential election results. Declared runner-up Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud.
Upholding the official election results could spark violence in a country hoping for its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.
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9:15 a.m.
Congo’s constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge to the presidential election results. But the African Union continental body has issued a surprise last-minute request for Congo’s government to suspend the announcement of final results, citing “serious doubts” about the vote.
Declared runner-up Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud.
Upholding the official election results could spark violence in a country hoping for its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.
The AU statement late Thursday said heads of state and government agreed to “urgently dispatch” a high-level delegation to Congo to find “a way out of the post-electoral crisis” in the vast Central African nation rich in the minerals key to smartphones and electric cars around the world.
The Associated Press
