U.N. Reviews Congo Progress on Vote

The president of Congo told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that he would do his utmost to stop political intimidation and incitement during campaigning in the country’s first national elections in more than four decades, diplomats said.

The Security Council met privately at the presidential palace with President Joseph Kabila, who is one of 33 candidates for the presidency. The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire, is struggling to emerge from years of conflict.

The council later held separate meetings with the central African nation’s four vice presidents, three of whom also are running for president on the July 30 ballot.

Campaigning in the presidential and national assembly races officially begins June 29. Congo’s independent media regulator Sunday accused Kabila and several vice presidents of jumping the gun and allowing media they control to incite intolerance and hatred.

The elections are seen as a key step toward stability in the vast, mineral-rich country after decades of coups, war and corrupt military rule.

A United Nations peacekeeping force of about 17,000 soldiers that helped end a 1998-2002 war is preparing to secure the vote. Its biggest challenge will be in eastern Congo, where rebels remain active.

Tanzania’s U.N. ambassador, Augustine Mahiga, said Kabila told Security Council members that he didn’t want a repetition of media hate campaigns in Rwanda that played a role in the 1994 genocide there.

The election is being organized by a transitional government established in 2003 following the war, which drew in armies from six nations.

France’s U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the council’s assessment was that “preparations are on track” for the elections.