African Union to debate disputed elections ?

African Union urges DRC to delay final election results 

African Union members agree to "urgently dispatch" a high-level delegation to DRC to find "a way out of the post-electoral crisis" in a country hoping for its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence in 1960.

Meanwhile, continental leaders will gather at the African Union this week to discuss the disputed election in DRC, a spokeswoman for the body said on Wednesday.
The DRC election commission last Thursday declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner of the December 30 vote with 38.57 percent of the tally against chief rival Fayulu's 34.8 percent.

Fayulu has appealed the result, saying it was an "electoral coup" forged in backroom dealings between Tshisekedi and outgoing President Kabila, who has been in power since 2001.
The Thursday meeting at AU headquarters in Ethiopia was called by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, chairman of the body until next month, spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo said.

"The initiative is part of the African-led efforts to assist the DRC political stakeholders and people to successfully conclude the electoral process," she told AFP news agency. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his attendance on Twitter, though it remained unclear which other leaders would join him.  Struggling with instability  Vast and unstable, DRC has never had a peaceful transition of power since gaining independence from Belgium in 1960.  It became a battlefield for two regional wars in 1996-97 and 1998-2003, and the last two presidential elections, in 2006 and 2011, were marked by bloody clashes.
Now the country's top court has eight days from when Fayulu's appeal was lodged on January 11 to render a verdict. e African Union continental body issued a surprise last-minute demand late on Thursday for the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to suspend the announcement of final results of the disputed presidential election, citing "serious doubts."

The DRC's constitutional court is poised to rule as early as Friday on a challenge filed by the election's declared runner-up. Martin Fayulu has requested a recount, alleging fraud.Upholding the results could spark violence in a country hoping for its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from Belgium in 1960.

The AU statement said heads of state and government agreed to "urgently dispatch" a high-level delegation to Congo to find "a way out of the post-electoral crisis" in the vast Central African nation rich in the minerals key to smartphones and electric cars around the world."This is truly incredible," tweeted Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group at New York University. "Usually, the African Union defers to the subregion ... in this case they departed dramatically.Allegations of a rigged election 

The DRC faces the extraordinary situation of a vote possibly rigged in favour of the opposition. There was no immediate government comment.

Fayulu accuses the administration of outgoing President Joseph Kabila of falsifying the results to declare opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the winner after the ruling party candidate did poorly. Fayulu has cited figures compiled by the influential Catholic Church's 40,000 election observers that found he won 61 percent of the vote.Two sets of leaked data show that Fayulu won the election by a landslide, according to an investigation published this week by Radio France International and other media working with the Congo Research Group.

In the first set of data, attributed to Congo's electoral commission and representing 86 percent of the votes, Fayulu won 59.4 percent while Tshisekedi received 19 percent. 

The second set of data, from the Catholic Church's mission, represents 43 percent of the votes. In it, Tshisekedi and ruling party candidate Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary each received less than 20 percent. Fayulu, a lawmaker and businessman who is outspoken about cleaning up Congo's sprawling corruption, is widely seen as posing more of a threat to Kabila, his allies and the vast wealth they have amassed. 

Tshisekedi, the son of charismatic opposition leader Etienne who died in 2017, is relatively untested and has said little since the December 30 election.

The AU statement was issued after Congo's foreign minister and deputy prime minister briefed "a number of heads of state and government" from across the continent on the crisis. 

It said some of the heads of state would join the AU Commission chair, Moussa Faki Mahamat, in the urgent mission to Congo. Pressure from African nations is seen as having more of an impact on Congo's government, which was annoyed by Western pressure during more than two years of turbulent election delays.

The AU statement reflects serious concern by states about the threat of more unrest in Congo that could spill across borders and destabilise its many neighbours.

But countries have wavered on how to address the crisis. The AU statement came hours after the 16-nation Southern African Development Community backed off its earlier demand for an election recount, instead urging the international community to respect Congo's sovereignty. It stressed the need for stability in a country where conflicts over the past two decades have killed millions of people. The AU statement noted that SADC leaders attended the wider continental talks.

Congo's election had been meant to take place in late 2016, and many Congolese worried that Kabila, in power since 2001, was seeking a way to stay in office. Barred from serving three consecutive terms, Kabila already has hinted he might run again in 2023.

Election observers reported multiple problems, including the last-minute barring of some one million voters in the east, with the electoral commission blaming a deadly Ebola outbreak. That alone undermines the election's credibility, some observers said.All of the election results, not just the presidential ones, have been widely questioned after Kabila's ruling coalition won a majority in legislative and provincial votes while its presidential candidate finished a distant third.