Congo’s capital calm after results and gunbattle

KINSHASA – Congolese police and UN peacekeepers patrolled the capital Kinshasa yesterday hours after the announcement of an election run-off was overshadowed by battles between soldiers loyal to the two leading candidates.

UN sources said five people were killed during fighting on Sunday night between soldiers loyal to President Joseph Kabila and followers of former rebel chief Jean-Pierre Bemba as electoral officials announced provisional results from Democratic Republic of Congo’s historic July 30 elections. Kabila, with 44,81 per cent of the votes, finished well ahead of his rival Bemba, who had 20 03 per cent.But Kabila failed to gain enough votes to win the presidency outright in the first round and the two will face each other in a second round run-off due on October 29, electoral officials said.The centre of Kinshasa was calm yesterday.Kabila’s presidential guard, Congolese policemen and UN peacekeeping troops were on patrol in the middle of the city, which is normally bustling but was nearly empty save for a handful of pedestrians inspecting bodies and bullet casings.Last month’s polls were meant to draw a line under a decade of conflict and chaos in Congo, where a 1998-2003 war sparked a humanitarian crisis that has killed more than 4 million people.Despite continued insecurity in the lawless east and hostile campaigning in the capital, the elections, which were overseen by over 17 000 UN peacekeepers backed up by a smaller European Union force, were generally peaceful and considered a success.However, they have underlined deep political and ethnic divisions in the vast central African nation.Sunday’s violence, which saw heavy fighting and armoured vehicles appearing on the streets, was an example of the hostile environment which could accompany a second round of voting.-Nampa-Reuters —- Somali PM Gedi names new cabinet * HASSAN YARE BAIDOA – Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi named a new 31-member cabinet yesterday in a push to rejuvenate a government paralysed for nearly two years by infighting and now threatened by powerful Islamists.It was not immediately clear whether Gedi included any Islamists or Islamist allies in the cabinet.President Abdullahi Yusuf dissolved what he called a bloated and ineffective cabinet on August 7, and ordered Gedi to name a smaller one that would be reviewed on its performance in three months.Gedi missed Yusuf’s seven-day deadline by a week.The announcement was made after Gedi consulted with Yusuf, parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, lawmakers and traditional elders, a government spokesman said.”After the meetings, the prime minister re-formed his government,” spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told a news conference in the government’s temporary base, Baidoa.Gedi’s reshuffle was part of a deal brokered by government ally Ethiopia, after he narrowly survived a no-confidence vote on July 30 and saw half his cabinet resign in frustration over his reluctance to negotiate with the Islamists.The Islamists’ rise is the single biggest threat to the interim government, formed at peace talks in Kenya in 2004 as a 14th stab at bringing central authority to a country in anarchy since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.The Islamists emerged in June as a new political and military force after defeating US-backed warlords and seizing control of Mogadishu and strategic areas around it.The government and the Islamists had been due for a second round of Arab-League brokered peace talks, but they were again delayed last week after the Islamists asked for more time.Many diplomats believe they are using the delay to tighten their control over Somalia and prepare for combat, should they clash with the government and Ethiopian troops there to protect the fragile administration with no real army of its own.The Islamists’ hardline leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has refused to talk to the government until Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia leave.Residents this weekend reported new sightings of Ethiopian soldiers in Baidoa.Addis Ababa has consistently denied sending troops into Somalia, but has not hesitated to do so in the past.Nampa-ReutersKabila, with 44,81 per cent of the votes, finished well ahead of his rival Bemba, who had 20 03 per cent.But Kabila failed to gain enough votes to win the presidency outright in the first round and the two will face each other in a second round run-off due on October 29, electoral officials said.The centre of Kinshasa was calm yesterday.Kabila’s presidential guard, Congolese policemen and UN peacekeeping troops were on patrol in the middle of the city, which is normally bustling but was nearly empty save for a handful of pedestrians inspecting bodies and bullet casings.Last month’s polls were meant to draw a line under a decade of conflict and chaos in Congo, where a 1998-2003 war sparked a humanitarian crisis that has killed more than 4 million people.Despite continued insecurity in the lawless east and hostile campaigning in the capital, the elections, which were overseen by over 17 000 UN peacekeepers backed up by a smaller European Union force, were generally peaceful and considered a success.However, they have underlined deep political and ethnic divisions in the vast central African nation.Sunday’s violence, which saw heavy fighting and armoured vehicles appearing on the streets, was an example of the hostile environment which could accompany a second round of voting.-Nampa-Reuters —- Somali PM Gedi names new cabinet * HASSAN YARE BAIDOA – Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi named a new 31-member cabinet yesterday in a push to rejuvenate a government paralysed for nearly two years by infighting and now threatened by powerful Islamists.It was not immediately clear whether Gedi included any Islamists or Islamist allies in the cabinet.President Abdullahi Yusuf dissolved what he called a bloated and ineffective cabinet on August 7, and ordered Gedi to name a smaller one that would be reviewed on its performance in three months.Gedi missed Yusuf’s seven-day deadline by a week.The announcement was made after Gedi consulted with Yusuf, parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, lawmakers and traditional elders, a government spokesman said.”After the meetings, the prime minister re-formed his government,” spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told a news conference in the government’s temporary base, Baidoa.Gedi’s reshuffle was part of a deal brokered by government ally Ethiopia, after he narrowly survived a no-confidence vote on July 30 and saw half his cabinet resign in frustration over his reluctance to negotiate with the Islamists.The Islamists’ rise is the single biggest threat to the interim government, formed at peace talks in Kenya in 2004 as a 14th stab at bringing central authority to a country in anarchy since the 1991 ousting of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.The Islamists emerged in June as a new political and military force after defeating US-backed warlords and seizing control of Mogadishu and strategic areas around it.The government and the Islamists had been due for a second round of Arab-League brokered peace talks, but they were again delayed last week after the Islamists asked for more time.Many diplomats believe they are using the delay to tighten their control over Somalia and prepare for combat, should they clash with the government and Ethiopian troops there to protect the fragile administration with no real army of its own.The Islamists’ hardline leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has refused to talk to the government until Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia leave.Residents this weekend reported new sightings of Ethiopian soldiers in Baidoa.Addis Ababa has consistently denied sending troops into Somalia, but has not hesitated to do so in the past.Nampa-Reuters