APA – Zimbabwe (Harare) The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has deplored the “hateful, dehumanising and abhorrent rhetoric” in the aftermath of the 20 December general elections in the DR Congo.
In DRC tensions have not yet subsided. The re-election of President Félix Tshisekedi with 73.34 percent of the votes cast against 18.08 percent for Moïse Katumbi and 5.33 percent for Martin Fayulu, his direct challengers, has not gone down well with the opposition.
The provisional results, announced on 31 December by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), have been fiercely contested by the opposition, which is demanding that the “sham elections” be annulled.
Against this tense backdrop, “I am very concerned about the increase in ethnic hate speech and incitement to violence, particularly in the provinces of North and South Kivu and in the regions of Kasai and Katanga,” Türk said yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.
For him, “the hateful, dehumanising and inflammatory rhetoric is abhorrent.” It can only “exacerbate tensions and violence in the DRC itself, while endangering regional security.”
After welcoming efforts by “certain authorities to combat this behaviour,” the top UN official called on “the authorities to conduct thorough and transparent investigations into all cases of hate speech and incitement to violence, and to hold those responsible to account.”
ID/te/lb/as/APA