Obasanjo, Mahama, Koroma, Odinga urge peaceful poll in DRC

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and three other African leaders yesterday appealed to the electoral body and other stakeholders in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to ensure that the country’s election scheduled to hold on Sunday is peaceful, free and fair.

Others who sued for peaceful poll in the DRC are Presidents Earnest Koroma (Sierra Leone), John Mahama (Ghana) and Raila Odinga (Kenya).

They also called on the African Union, South African Development Community, United Nations Security Council and European Union to “create a joint situation room to monitor the situation in DRC and respond quickly to any untoward event that may compromise the credibility of the elections.”

The leaders said having watched recent political developments in the DRC with keen interest, they were confident that the good people of DRC would not allow the December 23 elections to be doomed as feared by some in the international community.

Obasanjo and others expressed the hope that the elections would be used as a unifying force to bring the people of the country together and rekindle hope for its citizens that had fled the DRC.

They enjoined all candidates to caution their supporters against violence and voter intimidation, just as they appealed to the incumbent to support a free, fair and credible election.