The Republic of the Congo was scheduled to hold elections yesterday under a media blackout, in a tense vote expected to see Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso prolong his 32-year rule over the oil-rich but poor nation.
Congolese Minister of the Interior Raymond Mboulou wrote to telecoms companies urging them to shut off telephone, Internet and text-messaging services for 48 hours for “reasons of security and national safety.”
A government source told reporters the shutdown was intended to stop any “illegal” publication of the results.
Tensions have been running high in Republic of the Congo since October last year, when a public referendum backed removing a two-term limit that would have kept 72-year-old former paratrooper colonel Sassou Nguesso from power.
The vote also removed a 70-year age limit for the presidency that could have forced one of Africa’s five longest-serving leaders to step down.
The changes were approved in a referendum by 94.3 percent, dubbed “a constitutional coup” by the opposition, with protests erupting in the run-up to the vote that left several people dead.
The incumbent has said he has no doubt he will beat his eight rivals, describing election day as a “penalty kick and then victory.”
On Friday, five presidential hopefuls — including former head of the Congolese military General Jean-Marie Mokoko — signed an agreement to back the strongest candidate among them in the event of a second-round vote.
While the Republic of the Congo saw “robust growth” of 5 percent over five years through 2014, with oil and timber providing its main revenues, the country remains in dire straits.
“[The Republic of the Congo] continues to suffer from high rates of poverty and inequality, large infrastructure gaps, and important development challenges,” an IMF report released in July last year said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in