Luanda, ANGOLA, December 27 - Angolan President, João Lourenço, returned Wednesday night to Luanda from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where he took part in the mini-joint summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). ,

The mini-summit discussed essentially the preparation for the holding of elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), slated for December 30, after the initial date (Dec 23) was cancelled.

  

The mini-summit recommended the DRC authorities to ensure the safety of the candidates during the holding of the elections.

    

The participants in the event also took note of the fact that poll date was moved from 23 December to the 30th of the same month.

  

However, the Heads of State and of Government attending the meeting expressed belief that the elections will be fair, free, democratic and transparent.  

 

In order for this goal to be achieved, the participants invited the civil society in DRC to refrain from any act that would jeopardize the maintenance of a peaceful environment in the country.  

 

In the meantime, the Heads of State reiterated their commitment to keeping track of DRC in this sensitive period and praised the African Union (AU) for sending a mission of observers to monitor the electoral process in DR Congo.

 

From the eight countries that attended the event, at least five were represented at high level, including Angola, while the others were represented at ministerial or diplomatic levels.

 

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the organizers of the event, did not send any representative, following statements from this country in the eve of the event that they did not know about the meeting.  

 

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