Kagame calls SADC crisis meeting over DRC polls

Kampala. The chairperson of the African Union, Mr Paul Kagame, has called for an urgent meeting of heads of State with membership to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to which Democratic Republic Congo is also a member today.
The meeting is aimed at discussing the situation surrounding the disputed election results in the DRC.
The Rwandan president, according to a statement issued yesterday, will convene the meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Although the AU statement did not reveal the agenda for the meeting, diplomatic sources told Daily Monitor last evening that the Addis gathering will discuss the post-DRC election disagreements and propose strategic solution to the standoff. Other sources talked of a “consultation high-level meeting” of 16 heads of state .
Before sitting with Mr Kagame, the SADC member states will first have an internal consultation meeting today.

Confirmations
Namibian president Hage Geingob, who is also the incoming chairman of SADC, confirmed the AU meeting in a tweet.
“I consulted President Lourenço of Angola on the DRC situation, which SADC has been following with great interest. A Double Troika will jointly convene, preceding a consultative meeting with the African Union on the same issue, on January 17, 2019, Addis Ababa,” Mr Geingob tweeted on Tuesday.
The DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission-CENI last week named the Opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi as the winner of the December 30 elections in which millions of Congolese participated to replace Mr Joseph Kabila who has been in power for nearly 18 years.
Mr Martin Fayulu—a runner up— has challenged the provisional results in the country’s Constitutional Court demanding that Tshisekedi’s victory be cancelled and order a recount of the ballot papers.
SADC has already demanded for a recount of the ballot papers following claims by the influential Catholic Church that the results announced by CENI were different from what the data of the 40,000 electoral observers compiled from polling stations.

Uganda’s interest
As Kagame convenes the DRC meeting in Addis, authorities in Uganda will be closely monitoring the outcome of the consultative meeting on account of the country’s strategic security interests. A number of armed groups with a presence in the DRC have attacked the Ugandan territory and citizens over the past few decades.
Uganda, the host of DRC refugees, has also been calling for peaceful resolution to the post-election conflicts in the DRC.
Uganda’s State minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Okello Oryem, yesterday said President Museveni will not participate in the meeting because it is only for the SADC to which Uganda is not a member.
Mr Oryem, however, said Uganda has a keen interest in the issues of DRC and wishes that the result of the election should be that which reflects the voice of the Congolese.
“What we wish for DRC is an outcome that reflects the result of the election because our interest is peace and tranquility in that country. Whenever there is conflict, thousands of Congolese refugees cross to Uganda,” Mr Oryem said.
The minister said Uganda would deliberate on the DRC issues if a meeting for Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) or that of all AU heads of states and Government is convened.