NPR News:刚果骚乱持续升温 抗议延迟总统选举

The Democratic Republic of Congo has entered a period of extreme risk. Those were recent words of warning from the man who runs the U.N. mission in that large central African country. The U.N. is there to help the DRC recover from a devastating civil war.
The opposition accuses Congo's president of trying to stay in power beyond the end of his term in December. Political disputes are boiling over into street violence, and that's not something the U.N. is set up to police, as NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: The International Crisis Group is out with a new report called the "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams." It's how the author, Richard Moncrieff, describes the mood in the streets of Kinshasa these days.
RICHARD MONCRIEFF: People are angry. People want to go out on the street and express their views. But we know from all the recent history that quite frequently street protests turn ugly.
KELEMEN: Back in September when the Electoral Commission did not launch a presidential campaign as it was supposed to do, protesters clashed with police, and 49 people were killed. The protesters accuse President Joseph Kabila of trying to stay in power beyond his second and final term. And tensions are mounting again according to the head of the U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Maman Sidikou.
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MAMAN SIDIKOU: Actors on all sides appear more and more willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends.
KELEMEN: He told the Security Council this week that this is a risky period for the country. And though the U.N. mission known as MONUSCO is the largest U.N. peacekeeping force with 22,000 troops and police, it doesn't have the mandate to respond to what Sidikou fears will be a major flare-up between security forces and opposition protesters.
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SIDIKOU: If this trajectory continues, I believe large-scale violence is all but inevitable. And while MONUSCO will do everything it can within its mandate to protect civilians, the scope of the threats dramatically outstrip the mission's capabilities.
刚果民主共和国已经进入极端危险的时期。这是在中非大国刚果的联合国代表团负责人近期发出的警告。联合国正在帮助刚果民主共和国从毁灭性内战中恢复。
反对派指责刚果总统试图在12月任期结束以后继续执政。政治争议演变成街头暴力事件，据NPR新闻的米歇尔·克莱门报道，这并不属于联合国的管制职责。
米歇尔·克莱门连线：国际危机组织发布了最新报告《梦碎大道》。这是作者理查德·蒙克里夫在形容最近金沙萨市的街头情绪时用的词。
理查德·蒙克里夫：人们非常愤怒。人们想走上街头表达他们的观点。但是我们知道，最近的事件表明，非常频繁的街头抗议会演变成丑恶事件。
克莱门：9月份时，刚果选举委员会本应该启动总统竞选，但是他们并没有，这导致抗议者和警方发生了冲突，造成49人死亡。抗议者指责总统约瑟夫·卡比拉试图在结束第二个也就是最后一个任期后继续执政。联合国刚果民主共和国特派团团团长马曼·西迪库表示，紧张局势再次激化。
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马曼·西迪库：各方越来越希望用暴力去达到各自的目的。
克莱门：本周，他对联合国安理会表示，这对刚果来说是危险的时期。虽然联合国刚果民主共和国稳定特派团（简称MONUSCO）有2.2万名士兵和警察，是最大的联合国维和部队，但是就西迪库担心的可能演变成安全部队和反对派抗议者之间的主要冲突来说，他们并没有职权作出回应。
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西迪库：如果这一轨迹持续下去，我认为爆发大规模暴力事件几乎无法避免。虽然联合国特派团会在职权范围内尽一切努力保护平民，但是威胁范围已经大大超出了特派团的能力。

KELEMEN: The U.S. envoy on the region, Thomas Perriello, says such violence could be avoided with a single sentence if Congo's president would only say he's committed to holding presidential elections and that he would cede power to the winner.
THOMAS PERRIELLO: One of the tragedies about the situation in Congo is that this crisis was entirely avoidable. But unfortunately the government has decided not to avoid it.
KELEMEN: Joseph Kabila's term ends in December. Perriello says this is the moment that will define his legacy, and the U.S. is trying to remind the Congolese leader of that.
The U.S. envoy is also consulting with European partners on ways to keep up the pressure, including through targeted sanctions. The goal is to get the government to negotiate with the opposition and agree on a path toward elections as required by the Congolese Constitution.
PERRIELLO: We see north, south, east and west within DRC a strong desire to move forward to what would be a historic election, the first peaceful democratic transition of power in the country's history. And if the government continues to stand in the way of that, they're doing so at great risk to the stability of the country.
KELEMEN: A country that is the size of Western Europe. And as Perriello points out, the last time it devolved into civil war, millions were killed.
PERRIELLO: So everyone knows what the worst case scenario can be. And I think everybody has some sense of how committed the Congolese people are to seeing this go in a much more positive direction.
KELEMEN: U.S., U.N., European and African officials are scrambling now to try to prevent what Perriello calls an avoidable crisis and reach a negotiated solution soon. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.
克莱门：美国驻该地区特使托马斯·佩里罗表示，这种暴力事件用简单的一句话就可以避免，只要刚果总统承诺会举行总统大选，并将权力移交给大选获胜者。
托马斯·佩里罗：刚果局势的其中一个悲剧是，这场危机是完全可以避免的。但是不幸的是，刚果政府决定不去避免这一危机。
克莱门：约瑟夫·卡比拉的任期将于今年12月份结束。佩里罗表示，现在是确定其政治遗产的时间，美国正在尽力提醒刚果领导人这一点。
美国特使还将同欧洲合作伙伴就继续施加压力的方法进行协商，其中包括针对性制裁手段。目标是让刚果政府同反对派展开协商，就刚果宪法规定的总统大选进程达成一致。
佩里罗：我们看到，现在刚果的各个地区都有推进历史性大选的强烈意愿，这是刚果历史上首次进行和平的民主权利转换。如果刚果政府继续阻碍这一进程，会使刚果的稳定面临巨大风险。
克莱门：刚果的面积与西欧相当。佩里罗指出，上次刚果陷入内战时，造成了数百万人死亡。
佩里罗：所以，所有人都清楚最糟糕的情形是怎样的。我认为所有人都能理解刚果民众有多希望让局势向更积极的方向发展。
克莱门：目前，美国、联合国、欧洲以及非洲官员正在尽力阻止佩里罗称为可避免的危机，试图尽快达成谈判解决方案。NPR新闻，米歇尔·克莱门华盛顿报道。