DR Congo’s election faces delay
A general election planned for DR Congo in June may have to be delayed, the head of the electoral commission has admitted for the first time. Apollinaire Malu Malu indicated the poll would probably take place in October, before heavy rains make parts of the country inaccessible. Talk of a possible delay follows a warning from the UN’s Kofi Annan about the security situation in the east. The secretary general says rebel groups from Rwanda are still in the area. A five-year civil war in the huge country left nearly three million people dead from hunger and disease. The war is supposed to have ended in 2002 but fighting has persisted in the east, by soldiers who were once rebels backed by Rwanda. Full Story