The Southern African Liaison Office

The Southern African Liaison Office

International liaison, dialogue and research.

DRC News Briefs 

DRC – 12 August 2016

SALO

US urges DR Congo to allow human rights researcher to return

The United States urged the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday to allow the return of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher forced to leave the country.

The State Department said it was “very concerned by the government of the Democratic Republic of (the) Congo’s decision not to renew the visa” of Ida Sawyer, who has worked for the US-based rights group in DR Congo since 2008.

“The forced departure of this researcher… is incompatible with efforts to support greater transparency, accountability and democracy in the DR Congo,” State Department spokesperson

News24

 

DRC Government Rejects Opposition Demand for Election by Year’s End

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has rejected fresh demands from the opposition that elections be held and President Joseph Kabila step down by December 20 of this year.

Addressing his supporters in Kinshasa on Sunday, opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi reportedly said it would be “high treason” if Kabila did not launch the electoral process by September.

“I think it is not ignorance but irresponsibility because President Kabila is not in charge of organizing election. According Congolese law, it is the electoral commission that organizes elections, and the electoral commission has already announced that there is no way to organize election before the end of this year because the electoral census has started and will not end before 10 months,” information minister Lambert Mende told VOA.

Voice of America