Deeply concerned at the electoral violence, the human rights violations and the political tension in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the European Parliament again condemned, on Thursday 2 February, "all the violence perpetrated" in this country, and called for restrictions on the media to be lifted and for all political detainees to be released, in respect of the rule of law.
This was the message given in a joint resolution on the crisis in the rule of law both in the DRC and in Gabon (see other article).
The Parliament is deeply concerned at the increasingly unstable situation in the DRC. It calls on the authorities, and above all the Congolese president, to uphold their international obligations, to guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to govern in the strictest respect of the rule of law.
The rule of law, the respect of human rights, and free and fair elections are an essential element for any democracy to work well, the resolution states. The European Parliament says that the crisis results from the refusal of Congolese President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, to organise democratic elections within the constitutional time-frame.
The European Parliament says it strongly condemns the human rights violations, the arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions, the political intimidation of civil society and opposition members, and the violations of press freedom and of the freedom of expression in the context of the presidential elections.
The comprehensive political agreement, signed on 31 December, provides for a transitional government of national unity to be set up, for presidential elections to be held by the end of 2017, and for the withdrawal of Kabila (see EUROPE 11696). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)