Congressman Engel Requests Pompeo Explain US Approach On DR Congo Election Results

NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) The Trump administration should explain in detail how it will ensure a transparent confirmation of the presidential election results in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"I request a detailed explanation of how the State Department is working with other members of the diplomatic community to ensure that the election results are confirmed transparently and in accordance with Congolese laws and regulations so that the new president will have the confidence of the nation," Engel said in the letter on Tuesday.

Engel called on Pompeo to outline the measures that would be taken against Congolese officials who violate the rights of the citizens and how these actions would affect the diplomatic relations between the United States and the DRC.

If the United States finds out that officials in the DRC engaged in actions that degraded democracy in the country, the lawmakers will revisit the DRC Democracy and Accountability Act that authorizes sanctions against individuals involved in such activities, Engel said.

On Friday, the State Department said that it awaited a clarification about its concerns that had been raised regarding the vote count in the DRC presidential election.

Earlier in the week, Congo's National Independent Electoral Commission published the preliminary results of the presidential election held on December 30. The Commission announced that opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi had won the election. Under DRC's electoral law, the official results of the election must be approved by the country's Constitutional Court.

Following the announcement of preliminary results, the National Episcopal Conference of Congo said its observers found out that the published outcome of the vote was different from the results obtained by the mission.