Abuses tied to electoral process in DRC

GENEVA, Switzerland, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- In roughly a year, the United Nations said it documented nearly 200 human-rights violations linked to the Democratic Republic of Congo's electoral process.

The DRC is scheduled for national elections Nov. 28, only the second democratic election since the country gained independence in 1960. Violence was reported between rival political camps, and the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office said it documented 188 violations linked to the electoral process between November 2010 and Sept. 30.

The report found members of the opposition were routinely harassed or attacked, in some cases for only wearing T-shirts supporting their candidates. The Congolese National Police or members of the intelligence community were blamed for most of the violence, the report said.

"The kind of intimidation, threats, incitement, arbitrary arrests and violence that we have documented is unacceptable and has a chilling effect on voters," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement. "The government and leaders of political parties must make it clear that there is to be zero tolerance against any such actions which seriously limit the exercise of the right to vote."

The report said violence followed the DRC's first post-independent election in 2006 and warned further political fighting would undermine the country's chance to consolidate democracy.

Incumbent President Joseph Kabila faces a challenge from opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi.