Congo election results trickle out to stop rumours

KINSHASA, Nov 5 (Reuters) Congo's election commission today began releasing partial results from last week's presidential run-off to try to stem the flow of rumours and unofficial results circulating in the tense capital.

Results from 12 of 169 constituencies were published on the election commission's Web site, giving President Joseph Kabila 68.5 per cent of the vote in the race against Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former rebel who is a vice-president in the government.

The commission stressed the figures were partial and should not be used to extrapolate a final tally for the election, meant to draw a line under a 1998-2003 war which sparked a humanitarian crisis that has caused four million deaths.

The initial results nonetheless confirmed Kabila's huge popularity in his native east, where Swahili-speaking voters credited him with the relative peace. As expected, Bemba was far ahead in the west, highlighting the ethnic nature of the vote.

''We will be putting results up every day from now on,'' said Delion Kimpu Lumpu, a spokesman for the head of the election commission.

Kimpu Lumpu said 60 per cent of the results had been processed. The final results must be published by November 19 but are expected a week earlier.

Apart from pockets of violence, which led to the poll being re-run in several towns this week, millions voted peacefully throughout the vast country, which has known little but dictatorship, war and chaos for the past 40 years.

RUMOURS Despite repeated calls from Congolese and international officials to the contrary, rumours and false results have been spread by the media, text messages and e-mails in the former Belgian colony since the October 29 vote.

The tension was especially tangible in the capital Kinshasa, which was the scene of heavy fighting between Kabila's and Bemba's private armies for three days after the results of the first round were announced in August.

''The election commission has come under pressure to release official figures as this reduces the market for rumour and false results,'' a Western diplomat said. ''This is a good move.'' The announcement of the results followed sanctions imposed by the country's media watchdog on key members of both camps.

Olivier Kamitatu, spokesman for Kabila's alliance, was barred yesterday from speaking to the media for a week after he announced some results at a news conference last week.

Joseph Olenghankoy, Bemba's campaign manager, and three other spokesmen, were also gagged for a week after the former announced Bemba had won the election.

Four former African presidents who were dispatched to Congo to add pressure on the loser to accept the results said they were leaving today confident that there would be no trouble.

''Refusing to recognise ... the supposed loser as a force to reckon with will only be opening the door towards anarchy and refusing an opportunity to unite the nation,'' Ghana's ex-President Jerry Rawlings told reporters.

Congo's vote cost more than 500 million dollars and was being overseen by the UN's largest peacekeeping mission, itself backed by a European Union force in the capital.

Reuters SBA VP0310