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The party behind the declared winner of the presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday rejected the surprise request of the African Union to delay the announcement of the final results amidst "serious doubts" about the vote.
The unprecedented demand of the continental body is "the work of mining lobbies seeking to destabilize the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to perpetuate the looting of this country," said the secretary general of the Union Party for Democracy and Progress Felix Tshisekedi, Jean -Marc Kabund, said in a statement.
He called on the Congolese people to mobilize and defend the sovereignty of the mineral-rich country.
The AU announced that it would send Monday a high-level delegation to Congo to help resolve the electoral crisis. The many neighbors of the DRC fear that unrest will spread beyond the borders of the vast nation of Central Africa rich in minerals essential to smartphones around the world.
The Constitutional Court of the DRC is about to rule on a contesting of the election results by the declared candidate, who alleges fraud. Martin Fayulu requested a recount in the December 30 vote, saying the DRC electoral commission had published provisional results that were very different from those obtained at polling stations.
The electoral commission said that Tshisekedi won 38% of the vote and Fayulu 34%. However, leaked data published by some media, attributed to the electoral commission and representing 86% of the votes, show that Fayulu won 59% of the vote, against 19% for Tshisekedi.
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Outside the court, Fayulu's supporters claimed that incumbent President Joseph Kabila had reached an agreement with Tshisekedi behind the scenes as soon as it became apparent that the ruling party's candidate had been mediocre in the elections. Neither party acknowledged the charges.
The court could confirm the election results, order a recount or order new elections.
Prior to the decision, hundreds of Tshisekedi supporters were in the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, waving tree branches and banners bearing the inscription "Congo for Congolese".
They went to court to urge him not to recognize the AU's request.
"We are here to claim our right, and we are appealing to the Constitutional Court and the Rwandan Embbady to denounce the intentions of the African Union," said Papy Losala. The president of neighboring Rwanda, Paul Kagame, is the current president of the AU.
"The first thing, Kagame is not a model of democracy," Losala said. "We were surprised that the African Union and (the Southern African Development Community) came to tell us that we must cancel the elections."
Another supporter of Tshisekedi, Valentin Tshimanga, said: "Rwandans in Rwanda, Congolese in Congo, France against France, we warn all those who want to block the road to the victory of the UDPS today: we all came to support our president. "
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