Newspaper Page Text
2A
MARCH 14, 2002
Nation/World
Republic of Congo holds first
presidential race since war’s end
By TODD PITMAN
Associated Press Writer
BRAZZAVILLE, Rep. of Congo
Election officials counted
ballots Monday for an election
that appears to havereturned
President Denis Sassou-
Nguesso to power in the Afri
can nation.
But the party of opposition
leader Andre Milongo, who
withdrew his candidacy Fri
ddy, slammed Sunday’s poll as
a “masquerade” aimed at le
gitimizing a post that Sassou-
Nguesso seized by force five
years ago.
It has been 10 years and
three civil wars since the last
presidential racein the Repub
lic of Congo, an oil-rich coun
try bordering the much larger
Congo.
Milongo’s pullout left
Sassou-Nguesso facing six
challengers, none of whom was
considered a serious threat. It
wasn’t clear when final re
sults would be available.
In the capital, Brazzaville,
voting picked up slightly
through the day after a slow
start. At oneshopsellingbread,
lines were longer than thoseat
most polling stations, which
included schools, government
buildings and even several bars.
Small groups of police and
soldiers stood guard at other
wise empty corners all over
the riverside city, as children
took advantage of light traffic
to play ball in the streets. The
government banned unautho
rized vehicles from the roads
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and sealed the nation’s bor
ders for the day in an effort to
prevent possible vote-rigging.
Electoral officials reported
minor irregularities, includ
inginsufficient ballotsat some
pollingstationsand confusion
over where people should go to
vote, but said these were ad
dressed. Therewerenoreports
of violence.
Milongo, a former prime
minister, accused authorities
of alack of fairness and trans
parency and urged his sup
porters to boycott the vote. It
was unclear whether they had
heeded the call.
His campaign director,
Thierry Moungalla, protested
that the electoral commission
set up by the government was
notindependent.
Joaquim Miranda, head of a
43-member European Union
observer mission, said his team
had detected no major prob
lems in the run-up to the vote.
Sassou-Nguesso, 59, first
took power in a popular revolt
in 1979, heading a one-party
Marxist state until he was de
feated by Pascal Lissouba in
the country’s first democratic
elections in 1992.
Parliamentary elections the
following year sparked fight
ing between Sassou-Nguesso
and Lissoubaloyalists, among
others. The two were to face
each other atthe pollsin 1997,
but violence erupted again and
Sassou-Nguesso seized power.
Fighting broke out the next
vear and ended with a 1999
cease-fire.
An estimated 1.7 million of
the nation’s 2.9 million people
were registered to vote Sun-
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People line up for maize meal outside a local super
marketin Harare, Thursday, March 7, 2002. Zimbabwe
is experiencing basic food shortages ahead of the
presidential elections set for this weekend. AP Photo
day. The winner must take
more than 50 percent of the
vote or face a runoff April 7
with the second-place finisher.
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S. African government granted
permission to appeal court
order to distribute key AIDS drug
(AP) ThePretoria High Court
granted the government per
mission Monday to appeal the
court’sorder todistributeakey
AIDS drug at all public hospi
tals and clinics, but said the
drug had to be made available
inthe meantime.
The Constitutional Court, the
country’s highest court, was
not expected to hear theappeal
before the end of May.
In December, the High Court
granted an applicationby AIDS
activists and a group of pedia
tricians asking that health au
thoritiesbeorderedtomakethe
drugnevirapineavailableto HIV
positive pregnant women coun
trywide, and toformulateapro
gramtoprevent mother-to-child
transmission of the virus.
The government asked for
permission to appeal the rul
ing, saying the Constitutional
Court needed to decide
whether courts could inter
vene in matters of policy.
Studies show nevirapinecan
reduce mother-to-child HIV
transmission by up to 50 per
cent, and a recent
government study hasrecom
mended it be made available
to HIV positive women.
The health department ar
guesthatinadequateinfrastruc-
ture is in place to administer
the drug properly and tried to
restrict its distribution to 18
pilot sites.
Judge Chris Bothasaid ifthe
government lost its appeal un
necessary lives would be lost
and that’s why he ordered that
nevirapine be made available
immediately at facilities that
had thecapacity toprovide test
ing and counseling..
“If ... the government’s ap
peal succeeds, the result will be
that the health facilities will
have suffered some inconve
nience here and there,” he said
in his judgment.
“I find myself unable to for
mulate amotivation for tolerat
ing preventable deaths for the
sakeofsparingthegovernment
prejudice that cannot amount
to much more than organiza
tional inconvenience.”
The Treatment Action Cam
paign, one of the groups which
filed the lawsuit, welcomed the
court’s ruling.
“We are overwhelmed,” said
Zackie Achmat, the chairman
of the AIDS activists’ group.
“WebelieveJudge Chris Botha
has put morality back into law -
and policy by putting people’s
lives first.”
Dr Ashrav Coovadia, a
Johannesburg pediatrician,
also praised the court ruling.
“Doctors are torn between
doing what is right and what
they are able to do in their
hospitals,” he said. “Most doc
tors know that prescribing
nevirapine is the right thing to
do — it is quite unethical for
them not to do so.”
Sibani Mngadi, ahealth min
istry spokesman, said the gov
ernment would have to evalu
ate the ruling and would con-.
sider another appeal. Even the*
18 research sites currently dis
tributing nevirapine had expe
rienced difficulties, he said.
“If (the court) says weshould
implement without support
mechanisms, it is a matter of
concern,” he said.